


Just Another Day in Town.

by cuddlepuss



Category: Supernatural, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Torchwood
Genre: Anxiety, Day Out, F/M, Gen, Heavenly Host, M/M, Multi, Other, Wedding, extraordinary meetings, kidnappings, weird goings on
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-22
Updated: 2014-12-15
Packaged: 2018-02-26 15:56:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 60,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2657837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cuddlepuss/pseuds/cuddlepuss
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An ordinary teenage girl, anxious and socially insecure, is on a regular, fortnightly outing to her local town, when she meets some new beings, and her life, her whole world view, is changed forever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [coughingupfeathers](https://archiveofourown.org/users/coughingupfeathers/gifts).



> This 'short' story was a points commission from my daughter - coughing-up-feathers, on another site we're both members of. It was only supposed to be a few hundred words long.
> 
> Now, however, five months on, and it's got a word count of over 27,000 and is 15 chapters long - and I'm still only about half way through. Its taken on a life of its own, as well as taking over mine. 
> 
> There will be more tags added as I go along - there's too many to remember all at once.

Just like every second Thursday, as per the plan to help with her anxiety and social difficulties, Kat had planned a timetable for herself for her usual morning out in her local town, from what time bus she would catch in to the odd jobs she would do whilst there. Having disembarked from the bus, she proceeded to the library, returning the book she’d borrowed and taking out another video in its place.

From there, as per the plan, she went to her opticians to pay for and collect her new glasses, before doing a little shopping and getting a coffee before heading for home. The plan fell apart at the opticians. Kat had just picked up her glasses, having had them properly fitted, when suddenly a loud noise came from the back room, and a suited figure came out in its wake.

This suited figure, however, was no man. Yes, he wore a smart black suit, neatly pressed and correctly fastened, with a white dress shirt and a tie, but the head at the top was like something out of science-fiction. The head was shaped like a large, bloated fish, humanoid features to the front, with a tall, fluted crest of stiffly pointed spines poking up out of a fin like structure on the top of its head, Mohican style, two smaller fins sprouting, ear like, from either side, and a tail like protrusion at the rear.

Mainly crimson in colour, it had markings of a rich cobalt blue splashed here and there and the attitude of a gout – ridden general with nappy rash and tight boots. He was waving an AK47 around and yelling orders. Kat had had just enough time to take in the strange being before her, when two more occurrences had her collapsing to the floor, curled up in a terrified heap.

The shop door behind her came crashing loudly into the shop, sending her sprawling from its impact with her spine, a gruff American voice calling to drop the gun, when, in that same instance, another suited, coated figure appeared, seemingly from nowhere, behind the first figure, a hand extending to touch the back of the first figures neck, dropping him to the floor like a sinking ship.

The latest figure on the scene, ignoring everyone else, followed the fish-headed-man to the ground, examining him with seeming nonchalant exactness from the slightest of glances, only looking up when the American voiced male in the greatcoat poked him with his boot. _”Who and what are you, and how did you do that?”_ The American demanded, scrutinizing the both other males intensely. 

The man on the floor glanced up, merely to acknowledge the other, before looking back to the unconscious …..thing…on the floor, stating calmly, ridiculously, _”I am Castiel, Angel of the Lord.”_ It was at that point that Kat, rocking herself on her feet and bottom from her coiled position on the floor, gained the Great-coated figures attention.

Walking across to where she sat, he sank to one knee beside her, and offered his hand _”Captain Jack Harkness, Torchwood.”_ He grinned in what Kat imagined he thought of as a winning way, she struggled for a voice, shock and panic having robbed her of it temporarily. _”Kat, I’m Kat.”_ Castiel chose that moment to break the awkward speech and comment _”Oh, you’re beautiful, such a wonderful creation of my father’s, but so very far from your home.”_ He proceeded to list the exact species and planet that fish-man actually was, and in the blinking of an eye both he, and the fish-man, disappeared.

The Captain looked annoyed, maybe perplexed was more the phrase, turning his attention back to Kat, he helped her to her feet, and took her to the cafe, conveniently right next door, for strong, sweet coffee, to get over the shock, and talk over what she’d seen. As she lifted the cup to her lips for the first sip, there was the sound of wing beats, and Castiel was, once more, at their side, perched incongruously, conspicuously, beside Kat at the table.

 _”I would not drink that if I were you, Kat. It has been drugged to make you forget what you have encountered.”_ , with a gasp of shock, Kat cast the cup away from her, and the still hot liquid dribbled, slowly, down the front of its buyers greatcoat. Jack scowled, unamused at having his careful ‘clean up’ operation scuppered. Kat shrank back from the hand he held out to her, leaning, instead, toward the confusing, strangely comforting, Angel of the Lord.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

 

With a blinking of an eye, Jack, Kat and Cas were no longer in the cafe, but were, rather, in a rundown motel room looking into the stunned faces of two tall men dressed in jeans, tees and plaid over shirts, one slightly taller than the other, both with hair in shades of brown, both with brownish green eyes, both seemingly used to unannounced appearances by the Angel, though seemingly NOT used to him appearing with other people with him. The shorter of the two men spoke (cursed) first.

 _”Jesus Christ Cas! Not only no warning or personal space, but bringing strangers too? What’s the deal this time? World doomed? Abbadon risen again and roaming the Earth for a host to wear to the next prom? What’s with the cutie and the WW2 reject?_ Sam swallowed a grin and held his hand out to you both, offering introductions. Jack scowled.

Thus far, to Jack, the day had gone from terrible to worse, first the blowfish being snatched from under his very nose, then the Angel preventing his clean-up, now being snatched away himself to meet ‘Dumb and Dumber – The Plaid Version’  
, and all before lunch. He was not a happy bunny. He grunted a response, leaving a bewildered Kat to ask what questions she would.

Her tongue tying itself in knots, Kat muttered a vague explanation of what had happened to her thus far that day, to the older brother’s disbelief, while the younger kept more of an open mind, having a faith that his sibling had never had. Kat’s rambling account was cut short when Castiel, eyes closed and hands by his sides, began mouthing soundlessly to himself, whether a prayer, a benediction or a calling, no-one knew yet.

The answer was not long in coming. With the fluttering of wings, half a dozen more men were around them, gazes fixed on a shy and rather scared Kat, raising his hands, Cas confounded the gathered people by announcing _”Brothers, this is the one we have been seeking! She is the one._ turning to one of the new arrivals, he said _”Come, my brother, read her for yourself! See, she must be protected. She is the Apostle, the witness come to bring about the start of the Beginning. She must be taught, she must learn, she must know!”_

At this somewhat startling announcement, Kat backed away from the approaching stranger, who had his hand stretched out toward her in a gesture that reminded her of Cas’s handling the blowfish that morning. Sam, the younger, taller brother, introduced the new-comers by name. _”Kat, Jack, these are Balthazar, Gabriel, Samandriel, Lucifer, Zachariah, and Anias. All Angels or Archangels, they generally are good people, when they aren't being the biggest assholes in the universe. Watch out for Zac, he’s a bit of a …..Dick.” ___

__Kat, with a slightly alarmed squeak, pushed herself further behind Sam’s friendly feeling bulk, and murmured _”Eowyn, I want Eowyn. I want my cat. You’re all bigger than me and older than me, and I want my cat.”_ With a click of his fingers, Gabriel, smiling gently at the still startled girl, presented the white and black feline to her, asking if that was, indeed, the right one. Kat took her and nuzzled her gently, nodding an agreement. Muttering under his breath and fiddling with the watch-like device on his wrist, Jack disappeared from view, leaving Kat more bewildered than ever. _ _

__Zachariah, opening his mouth to make one of his usual, pompous, self-congratulatory statements, was cut off by Lucifer, who simply gave him a hard look, made a gesture with his hand, and muted him. Murmuring something to Gabriel, Anias and Samandriel left for a couple of moments, returning with the newly resurrected Jo and Ellen Harvelle, to remain with Kat during her training and protect her from the likely seduction attempts of their very own ‘Righteous Man’, and others that may try to lead her astray from her calling, the two females at their sides astonishing and delighting the Winchester brothers._ _

___MEOW_ came loudly from the back of the now crowded room, Eowyn, disliking how closely Kat was holding her, made her displeasure known – loudly. _”Damn fur ball”_ grumbled Dean as the cat leaped from Kat’s arms and into Castiel’s delighted hands. Lucifer, rolling his eyes but secretly fawning over one of his father’s creatures, stepped closer to the troubled youth and laid a careful hand on her shoulder as she watched his brother practically swoon over the animal. _ _

__With a gleam of mischief in his eyes, Gabriel winked at Kat and snapped his fingers, instantly EVERYONE was holding a cat of some description. Dean, as luck would have it (or Gabe’s scheming) was holding a Siamese – the one breed that can’t retract their claws – guess who got scratched? Sam had a long furred Persian blue, while all the other angels were holding kittens of various breeds. Kat herself was snuggling a Cornish Rex – distinctive for being completely bald._ _

__With the anxious girl’s nerves a little calmer in the presence of the animals, the Angels and Hunters discussed, with Kat, the form of training she would need. In a throwaway comment that many of the host didn't understand, Dean made reference to Yoda’s training of Luke on Dagobah – from the Star Wars films – however, not only did Gabriel understand the reference, he thought it an excellent idea, and shrunk Dean to fit a child’s toddler carrier, ready for the off._ _

__While Sam and Lucifer laughed and Kat grinned a little Castiel looked, as much as his expression changed at all, annoyed, while the other Angels either rolled their eyes or seemed bewildered. Dean, in the carrier strapped to a bemused Kat’s back, crossed his arms over his now diminished chest and cussed Gabriel from Heaven to Hell and back again (in some very imaginative ways). Lucifer, looking, perhaps to get a little revenge for the aborted apocalypse, teasingly told him that little boys who swore got punished and willed a paddle for his butt into existence._ _

__Cas was now glowering at them both, and he, with Samandriel and Inias, changed him to his right size, the Siamese – who’d been shrunk and stuck in the carrier with him – yowled loudly, scratched him mightily across the cheek and leapt to relative safety of Kat’s arms. With the humour of the act having broken the ice and allowed Kat to relax, the Angels, except for Cas and Inias, disappeared back to wherever they’d come from._ _

__Now was time for lessons to begin….not quite. Kat refused to even think about learning anything until such time as her parents had been visited and assured of her safety (and sanity). The Angels zapped her, and the hunters, to her parent’s house, appearing inside the living room and almost giving her mother a heart attack._ _

__Her mother had a heart condition, and four strangers and her daughter suddenly appearing out of thin air did not help her. Inias lay a hand on her head and cured her. Sitting on the floor shaking her head in confusion, her mother, Linda, looked around at them all in bewilderment as her daughter questioned him as to what he’d just done. Inias explained that he’d cured the heart condition._ _

__Gathering her scattered wits back together, Linda reminded her daughter of stranger danger, and that she’d been going to collect her glasses. Nodding, Kat took the point up with the Angels, who answered by zapping them all back to the bunker in Kansas. Kat was livid with them all, and made sure they ALL knew it. Sam wrapped an arm around her shoulders to try to calm and console her._ _

__Shoving him aside, or rather, trying to, Kat went to storm off in a temper, only to realize that she had no clue where she was, or how she could get safely away. Dean burst out into amused chuckles at her frustration, Sam was more understanding of her situation, the two Angels stood clueless of why the Apostle was angered with them, and of how to right the situation._ _

__Suddenly, from a room somewhere in the depths of the tunnel like structure came a young Asian male, not much older than Kat herself from the looks of him, grumbling about disruptions to his translations and what was the fuss now. Kat ran to him, maybe he could help her._ _

__Gasping a little, still upset and not a little anxious, Kat blurted out in one long, unbroken sentence her situation, and how she’d been abducted from a cafe near her home and taken to some strangers, then taken home briefly only to be abducted again. Kevin, the young man in question, had had a similar happening when he’d come into his ‘Prophet’ role – leaving him perfectly placed to understand how she was feeling now._ _

__He glanced over at the Hunters and Angels, rolling his eyes before leading her to the kitchen for a sit down and some coffee. Calming, Kat and Kevin talked about their similar situations and how nothing had gone as planned for either of them._ _

__While they were talking, Gabriel arrived, Castiel had been in touch to ask advice on the unhappy Apostle. When Kat sent him an annoyed look and otherwise ignored him, he went looking for his younger brothers and found Sam who filled him in on the situation. Gabriel wasn't impressed with either Dean, or his siblings. He gathered them for a ‘Team Meeting’ to explain the error of their ways. The talk was met with resentment by one, acceptance by another and confusion by the other two._ _

__Once he’d explained, coerced and conned his way into everyone’s understanding and acceptance, he had led a slightly morose but contrite party of Angels and Hunters into the kitchen where the two youths sat talking. With some stipulations, Kat agreed to the ‘Heavenly directive’ that she must learn all things Supernatural, Spiritual, and Scriptural, one being that she had a room near Kevin for safety and another that her cat be returned to her from wherever she had been left. On behalf of all parties, Gabriel agreed._ _

__Next day, Gabriel and Balthazar took Kat back home to her parents, landing OUTSIDE and knocking at the door, trying to make reparation for the previous day. Healing not only her father’s diabetes and galactoseamia, but her sisters’ autism too. Reassured, and with some of her own belongings in tow, Kat took temporary residence in the bunker with Team Free Will. Her guinea pigs re-homed with her._ _

__\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_ _

__As Dean taught her about guns and weaponry, and Sam brought her up to speed on other uses for the internet than social sites like Tumblr and twitter, the Angels took turns instructing her on the truth of the holy past and its relevance to her future. All went well, until the third week, when it was Zachariah’s turn to instruct the young lady on Enochian, the sigils, language and pronunciation. Kat and Zach had what might be described as a trying relationship – he was trying to boss her about and she was trying to avoid him._ _

__When he appeared, ten thirty on the Wednesday morning, to begin the lesson, Kat decried the timing _”I have keep fit with Sam and Kevin now, I can give you an hour after lunch. Come back around two pm.”_ and off she scampered, calling for the two men in question, Cas giving an almost guilty half grin at her antics. When he came back at two, she wasn't there – she was in a ‘lesson’ with Lucifer – studying the ecology of the planet with a world-wide field trip._ _

__After a month of non-stop evasions and avoidance's, Zach had run out of patience and convened a meeting with Kat and the others to get some kind of attendance guarantee for her presence the next morning. It didn't go as he expected. When he demanded to know what it would take for her to actually attend the lesson, she gave him a blunt stare and declared _”A different teacher.”__ _

__Sniggers and chuckles broke out around those that weren't afraid of Zachariah, and Lucifer decreed that if she felt so strongly about it, Castiel would teach her – Zachariah would prepare the lessons materials and deliver them to Castiel instead of going too close to the uncomfortable young Apostle. Kat gave a small cheer and high fived Kevin (the prophet had been helping to run interference for the teenager) the other humans laughed._ _

__Castiel began the lessons next morning at nine sharp. In these lessons Kat wasn't alone though, both Sam, Dean and Kevin evincing an interest in the subject – they all joined class, with Dean grumbling about the time. The lesson went well, and was actually much more interesting than it had first appeared to be. Afterwards, over coffee in the kitchen, Kat and Kevin spoke of how their roles gave them unique perspectives on the whole ‘Angels and Demons’ thing, and monsters in general. It made Kat think._ _

__With a lot on her mind, she wandered outside to meet Anias for her next lesson – Evolution and the effect of mankind on the world. Again, the lesson was interesting, and well presented with just enough humour (intended or not) included for it to make a subject that took her attention._ _

__Once it was over, she asked the young Angel a few …..Pointed questions, and discovered that the answers were even more fitting for what she’d been thinking about than she hoped. She called for Lucifer and asked Anais to bring Michael to her. It was time to get to work._ _

__& &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&_ _

__Meanwhile, across the Pacific in Cardiff, Jack had returned to the Torch wood hub and was grumbling long and loud to his merry band of workers about the Angels interfering in his last recovery mission, and how they may or may not be under threat of imminent invasion by such beings. Just then, the intruder alarm went off…._ _

__Zachariah and Lucifer, working together for a change, for the common cause, had arrived and heard Jack’s rant. They decided to have some fun with them. Zachariah, bellowing Enochian curses in his full, unrestricted, natural voice, blew out the lights in half the network of tunnels that made up the hub while Lucifer – still appearing as a burning through Nick – suddenly stood in the centre of the main conference room, hands on hips, sneer on his face._ _

__While Jack faced off against Lucifer in the centre of the hub, Owen and Tosh shot at him and Gwen and Ianto went to find the intruder in the complex itself. Checking the cell area, they found Janet, their weevil, missing. Zachariah touched both in turn and they were transported to the main room with Jack and Lucifer. He followed up bringing in Owen and Tosh._ _

__Jack, finding that his entire team had been rounded up, sat at the table, folded his arms, and tersely informed his team people that these were two of the Angels that had a mission for them, and that they had no recourse but to obey – they, Torchwood, had no way of stopping them from doing anything they pleased. Lucifer gave a charming grin as Zachariah smirked, Owen cursed about smarmy dicks under his breath and the rest of them sat at attention._ _

__Lucifer, standing with his back to the screen that was showing, as usual the cells – now devoid of any inmates – explained who the Apostle was, what her role in the upcoming events was, and how they, Torchwood, were to train and educate her on all things extra-terrestrial that they had come across. It would prove vital in the upcoming months. They, the Angels, would bring her along when she’d finished her supernatural training in America._ _

__Lucifer was the one to answer the inevitable questions, firstly from Gwen. _”You say she’s just a teenager, where’s she going to live? And how’s she going to support herself? You know, food, clothes, and the basic essentials of life?”_ Lucifer smiled, it wasn't reassuring. _ _

___”My dear Gwen, do you honestly expect that a ward of God needs to be concerned with life’s trivialities like that? Torchwood will provide accommodation, and all other basic requirements, just as it does for you. She’s a vegetarian, so in the next few months, you can be sorting out suitable supplies. The American team she’s with now has her living with them.”_ _ _

__Next came Ianto _”Sir, if I understand you correctly, this young lady is to learn ALL about EVERYTHING we've yet encountered that came through the rift. Sir, none of US knows everything about all of it yet, how’s she supposed to learn it all so fast?”__ _

___”Ah, Ianto, isn’t it? You’re mere mortals, save for Jack. Kat, the Apostle, has accelerated learning due to her role as one of God’s key agents here on Earth.”_ Tosh looked up and quietly asked what Kat’s computing skills were like, Lucifer remarked that she found her way well enough around twitter, Tumblr and deviant art._ _

__Owen sneered, and demanded _”Well, what if we don’t want to abide by your will?”_ Zachariah, grinning delightedly, snapped his fingers and Owen found himself securely fastened to the ceiling by his butt. Jack, arms crossed over his chest and a scowl on his face demanded first Owen’s release, then some idea of when Kat would arrive. Owen fell to the floor, landing hard and painfully, and Lucifer just grinned, announced that Kat would be bringing a cat and two guinea pigs, and the two Angels vanished._ _

__When they got back to Kat in America, she took an instant dislike to the smugly amused looks on their faces and demanded to know what they’d been up to. When they simply replied that the Torchwood party were aware of what they needed to be prepared for, she insisted on the two of them taking her there._ _

__The alarms blared again as they arrived in the centre of the Torchwood hub, the five people still gathered around the table where the Angels had left them, Owen still rubbing his head where a rather prominent lump had developed. Kat, arms folded in disbelief and an apologetic look on her face, turned to the still alarming (to her) Jack, and stated that she didn’t know what the two had said or done, but to ignore them._ _

__Holding her hand out to the closest member of the team, who happened to be Gwen, she said _”I’m Kat. All I really need is a place to sleep – a sleeping bag on the floor will do - some kind of vegetarian food source, and somewhere for my cat and guinea pigs to stay. I’ll be about six months, I’m told, in the US, before coming here. I imagine they caused some kind of mischief whilst here, and for that I apologize. “_ Grabbing a pen and paper off the desk, she scribbled a few things and handed it to Jack._ _

___”Look, here’s my mobile number, if they get out of hand, or anything untoward happens, call me, and I’ll sort it. The other Angels I’m working with are Gabriel – he’s a trickster, so expect some pranks while he’s around, Castiel – Jack, you met him earlier, Samandriel, Inias – they’re both nice, and Balthazar – he’s a boozer, so keep your wine and whiskey under lock and key while he’s about.”_ _ _

__Owen, his face a mix of fury and confusion, stated coldly _”They hung me from the ceiling by my ass, then dropped me from it onto my head – look!”_ Kat scowled at the two Angels, before saying _”So, its fun to hang people around is it? Which one hung you up? Zachariah? Lucifer, hang him up too, then fix the man’s head. No, Zach, not physician heal thyself. Lucifer, do it, you two caused it. And no coming down before I say so Zach.”_ _ _

__Picking up a small device from off the desk, Kat turned it over in her hands, a stream of information leaving her mouth completely without her knowledge, the main screen behind Jack lighting up with the information as it did so, leaving everyone in the room with their mouths hanging open in amazement. Carefully, slowly, Lucifer removed the device from her hands, and the in-depth analysis of the item ceased. Confusion creased Kat’s brows when she saw the new information on the screen, and she looked around in bewilderment._ _

___”Lucifer, have you fixed the feller yet? Zachariah, have you learned your lesson? No? Then fucking well do it. NOW LUCI!”_ A voice, sounding distinctly like an amused Gwen’s, said _”Maybe she’ll be an asset Jack.”_ Grinning, Kat looked from Gwen to Owen, and said cheekily _”No, HIS was the ass that was set. Set on the ceiling. Bye now, I’ll see you in a few months.”_ and they all vanished, before reappearing briefly to say _”Oh, I’ll send one of the nicer Angels a few days before I arrive, to give you some warning. Okay? Bye.”__ _

__& &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&_ _

__In America, Lucifer showed up to answer Kat’s call, horrified to find Michael there too, along with Dean and Sam. Kat, looking both nervous and determined, was sitting in the middle of a clearing in the woods outside the bunker, on an old fallen tree, arms loosely draping over her knees. She introduced herself to Michael, then cleared her throat._ _

___”Now, apparently, I’m supposed to be some kind of all important Apostle, vital to the new world plan of God or whatever. That’s not going to work for me if I have to keep living in a theoretical war zone. So this is what’s going to happen. Michael, Lucifer, Dean, Sam, you’re each going to hug it out with your brother, forgiving and forgetting one another’s misdemeanors, then I’ll set you a task together to prove you mean it. Go on, hug each other, and mean it!”_ _ _

__When reluctant hugs had been exchanged, and the brothers had made up with each other, Kat told them of the mission she had in mind for them. Smiling delightedly at them, she spoke up once more. _”I hear tell that there’s still someone trapped in the cage. An innocent human that was unfortunate enough to fit in with the plans of Angels and was sacrificed as corporate damage. I believe his name is Adam Milligan, and that he’s a Winchester by blood if not by name. Your mission, if you want me to do my part, is to rescue him from there and bring him here, healed and whole. If he’s not here by this time next week, you can take your ‘Apostleship’ and stick it where the sun don’t shine.”_  
Grumbling to themselves, the four males left her in the sun while they started to think about the project they’d just been landed with. Kat, relaxed and pleased with herself, sprawled back and closed her eyes. Suddenly, she wasn't alone, a man of medium height and slightly pudgy girth was before her, a delighted smile on his face as he announced _”Hello Darling.”__ _

__Without knowing quite what she said, Kat’s mouth opened and an unbroken stream of unfamiliar language sped forth, causing red smoke to pour from the man’s mouth, and the body to collapse floor ward. Angels appeared just as he landed, Angel blades drawn, sensing danger to the Apostle. Looking from the unconscious man on the grassy ground to the Angels gathered around her, Kat asked plaintively what was going on._ _

__Castiel, his blade disappearing back where it was stored, crouched down by the fallen figure, only to curse as he turned the figure face up. _”Crowley!”_ he swore. Gabriel looked from the man to Kat, a thoughtful look on his usually grinning face, as Kat asked if ‘Crowley’ was dead. Inias reassured her that he was not, merely exorcised, the body he’d been occupying unconscious. Kat sighed with relief and got up, wanting to get away from the place he’d appeared as soon as possible._ _

__In that week, with Michael, Lucifer, Dean and Sam absent, the usual routine changed slightly, yes, Kat still took lessons in hunting and spirituality from the Angels, Ellen, Jo and Garth, who’d dropped by to see the brothers, but once the day’s lessons were over, Kat was teaching the Angels something of how living as a human felt – simple things like walking in the woods with baskets, collecting the wild foods that grew in there. It was fall by now, berries and apples, hips and haws, all manner of wild variants of herbs and vegetables were collected and stored in the bunkers massive fridges and freezers, ready to make a meal when the week drew to a close._ _

__After the third woodland scavenge for ingredients, Kat announced that they had enough and now she needed to go to the shops, Kevin offered to take her, Gabriel and Balthazar opting to come along for protection. Once there, Kat picked up preserving sugar, cooking apples, flour, shortening, and all manner of other things, like cloves and cinnamon. Paying for it all, they returned to the bunker._ _

__There, she set to work, organising the Angels and humans into teams to work with her, some chopping and mincing the wild fruits for a woodland jelly, some washing the herbs and vegetables to be made into other dishes, still others to peel, core and chop the cooking apples and pick over the blackberries while she made her special pastry for the pie crusts. Soon, the whole bunker was filled with the aroma of baking and boiling fruits and pastries._ _

__Once the pies were out of the oven to cool and the fruit had been set to strain ready for making into the jelly, Kat started again with the fillets of beef she’d purchased fresh while they were out, carefully removing all the fat before grinding it and shaping the resultant mince into patties that were then plated and put in the fridge. She started then on making bread rolls, from scratch, just like her mother did when she was in a temper._ _

__With the bread rolls baking in the oven, she retrieved the patties from the fridge and started to grill them, so they were practically fat free, and almost melted in the mouth. It was then that the doors banged open and Dean burst in, Sam and Lucifer at his heels, Michael and Adam bringing up the rear. Kat, a relieved smile on her face, went to meet them, greeting them with hugs (the Archangels too), and questioning Adam about how he felt. Then she ran back to the kitchen._ _

__Wandering in behind her, the newly returned group stood, eyes widening, at the sight of the domesticated Angels before them, and all the foods spread around the surfaces and table. Beckoning them in, she handed Adam a plate, and told him to help himself, before setting each of the others to try eating something too. Cas complained it tasted of molecules, so Kat took his hand, and said to try again._ _

__When he then grinned and kept happily eating, she pointed out that just a ‘touch of humanity’ would help them enjoy human things more. That’s when ALL the Angels took a hold on a nearby human to try for themselves. Once everyone had empty plates, Kat called over to Dean, asking if what she’d heard of his love of pie was true. Nodding emphatically, Dean was almost goggle eyed when three were produced from the refrigerator and divided into slices._ _

__Each person was asked if they wanted some, and given their choice of flavour between Apple and clove, apple and blackberry, and home-made lemon meringue. Ice cream or cream was served with it. By the time everyone had finished eating, there was almost nothing left. Coffee was served and conversation turned to where the Archangels and Hunters had been, though knowing looks were spreading given Adam’s presence there._ _

__Days raced by, each one more hectic than the last, until, one day, Kat heard the unmistakable sounds of a massive argument, male voices raised in disagreement. Disliking conflict, she went to investigate. Finding the row in progress, she discovered Sam and Dean, full on defensive against a very worked up Adam, who was yelling at them about leaving him in the cage for so long._ _

__Dean lost his cool and snapped back that the only reason he was back, despite Sam and his best efforts, was because the Apostle had forced the Archangels hands by threatening to not do her part in upcoming events if they counted even one human as ‘collateral damage’, and gave them a week to get him back, healed and whole._ _

__Adam, his face a picture of disbelief, stated that if that was the case. Then he’d stick with her, come what may. Dean was gob-smacked, devastated that his brother would choose a stranger over family but Sam wasn't so shocked, after all, why wouldn’t he go with a pretty young lady rather than his two near stranger brothers that hadn't managed to save him when it counted?_ _

__Kat stepped into the room, her face flaming red, her head down, chin on her chest, not meeting anyone’s eyes. _”Adam, you can’t abandon your family like that. Family is important, you know that. Do you think I’d be this far from home if I had a choice? I HAVE to be here, you don’t, you can stay with your family and not play the part of global hobo anymore. You don’t need to be involved in Heavenly affairs anymore, you’re free.__ _

__Adam stepped up to her, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder, his voice dropping an octave, soothing, calming, and persuasive. _”Kat, did you ever stop to think that maybe I WANT to be near you? That I feel my place to be beside you? You’re giving up so much, more than any of the rest of us ever had to, and all for you don’t know what. Maybe I feel you need a friend at your side, and that I want to be that friend. Trust me Kat, this isn't pity, nor gratitude, its friendship, loyalty and trust. Brotherly love. Let me be there for you, like you are for everyone else.”__ _

__With an embarrassed smile, and a shy glance at his brothers, Kat reached up and plopped a friendly peck on Adam’s cheek before escaping the room, and the bunker. Once outside, she was faced again by Crowley, this time he wore ear plugs and gagged her before she could start on the exorcism, again the Angels appeared, blades drawn in readiness to defend her. Crowley grinned as a dozen of his best demons appeared to defend him and help carry off the Apostle. It looked grim for the young lady._ _

__That’s when Dean and Sam, taking note of the commotion from the Angels, burst onto the scene, Adam in their wake, crashing out of the doors and racing to the rescue. With the Angels, Archangels and Hunters all working together, it didn't take long for the area to be cleared again, and for Adam to wrap his arms protectively around Kat’s shoulders. Leaning on his strength, Kat allowed herself to be escorted inside once more._ _

__\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_ _

__A few days later, something unusual happened which no-one could explain at first. That is, until Kat had a visit from a rather unusual Professor. Professor Charles Xavier didn't LOOK all that impressive, bald and wheelchair bound, he arrived unexpected and unannounced one afternoon, two days after Kat had somehow fought off both Crowley and Alistair single handedly, coming out of it without a scratch, not even breathing hard._ _

__Xavier, producing a card giving the address of a school ‘for the gifted’ in Westchester, New York, proclaimed Kat to be coming into her latent mutant abilities, and proved their existence by moving Sam’s laptop to Kat’s lap by telekinesis. He proceeded, with Angelic supervision, to read Kat’s mind, or tried to, finding that he could not absorb all of what she had taken in, only just enough to gain an understanding of what was happening to her._ _

__Kat, throwing her head back and swearing loudly, demanded exasperatedly what else was going to happen. Giving a brief sketch of what he’d read in her mind, the Professor filled them in on what he could. Kat groaned in dismay while Adam grinned._ _

__Over the next few days, Kat discovered more abilities, some she had fun with – like when she morphed into Cas, morphing Adam into Dean and making out in the library in front of everyone ELSE, leaving the real Dean and Cas bewildered by the questions and insinuations that were thrown their way, and the way she made Sam, by mind control, dye his hair pink – others she didn't like near as much – electrocuting Lucifer when he’d startled her, or turning ‘baby’ neon orange when Dean did an emergency stop in her to mention but two._ _

__As she got accustomed to her new skills, so she and Adam came into their own as pranksters, engaging in a prank war with Gabriel, to the consternation of everyone else. It all began with relatively small things, like Gabe ‘disappearing’ Kat’s favourite plaid shirt, and Kat turning Gabe’s candy into carrots, but, inevitably, it escalated into bigger and better / worse things._ _

__When Kat came back from a hunt with the boys to find not one, not two, not three, but thirty Eowyn’s in her room, she knew the time had come to pull out all the stops and bring this prank war to its conclusion. With a little coercion (i.e. “You’d be a good son, reminding everyone of the real story of Christmas’) Kat got Michael to turn the library of the bunker into a stable, with Kat as Mary, Kevin as Joseph, finding a real baby for the role of the baby and Jo and Ellen as the shepherds. Dean, Sam and Adam played the kings and the Angels were themselves. The scene lasted for the full twelve days. Gabriel called Uncle._ _


	2. Chapter 2

Come New Year, yes, the ‘Nativity’ had been done at Christmas, Kat was ready to go back to the UK, and, after a couple of weeks with her parents, and a weekend with her Aunt, Uncle and cousins in the Rhonda valley, she arrived in the Torchwood hub to the familiar sound of the invader alarm blaring. The Angels, bless them, had landed her and Adam, along with the animals, in the conference room – the pet carriers on the table.

Once the group of Angels and humans had been recognised and greeted, the siren shut down and animals introduced, Kat and Adam were taken to the place that had been prepared for their arrival, and the animals settled for the day. Groceries were bought and the two sorted themselves to begin working with the Torchwood team the next day.

As soon as Kat walked into the hub the next morning, Tosh had a newly discovered device for her to identify – scans had shown that it could well be highly dangerous, and they needed to be sure. Kat, unprepared for such an instant start was taken by surprise and dropped the palm sized object, making a dent in the floor bigger than you’d expect for a thing of its weight. Ianto scowled and moved away as Owen called a rude remark, Kat just grinned to herself and winked at Adam. Tosh, picking it up from the floor, placed it carefully on the desk, allowing Kat to lift it herself, a connection to the computer automatically created and the information instantly uploading, telling Tosh all that they needed to know about the hand held transmitter it turned out to be. 

Kat was unimpressed with her welcome that morning, and asked if she couldn’t at least be spoken to before having things dumped on her, Tosh bashfully apologised. Grinning cheekily, Kat and Adam rolled their eyes at one another as Owen called over about Kat being clumsy, and with a wink to her friend Kat made Owen drop his freshly brewed coffee onto his own crotch, making him curse loudly.

Inias, the Angel of the morning, looked confusedly around them all as Kat hollered to Owen ‘who’s the clumsy one now Doc?’ and told Inias that ‘The physician may not be able to heal themselves’ from that scald, and could he please give Owen a hand. Inias laid gentle fingers on Owen’s forehead as he stared confusedly from his hand to his cup, certain he’d had a good grip on it. Jack called over for Owen to zip up, no-one was having a pissing contest here.

Adam and Kat giggled as the Torchwood team just seemed to accept the boss’s words, finding amusement in the unusual pronunciation of otherwise familiar language. Gathering all together around the table in the conference room, Ianto bringing fresh coffees for all (Kat telling Owen to be more careful this time) Jack wasted little time in spelling out what he’d planned for Kat (and therefore Adam) in the time they were with them.

Jack’s plan, it turned out, involved nothing more than Kat going through all the items in the Hub’s many storage rooms, providing detailed analysis of each and every item they had thus far accumulated. Inias interrupted, stating that that wasn’t suitable for the Apostle, nor would it happen. If Jack and co. didn’t keep to the deal he’d made with Castiel, then Torchwood would be shut down, from the inside, and the Angels would oversee all the rest of Kat’s training by themselves. With immense resentment, Jack re-agreed.

As Kat and Adam spent their days going through the archived items on days when there was no new activity, they got to know the lay-out of the base pretty well – only Ianto seemed to know it better, and he was secretive about something in the basement level, one room he kept locked and sealed to the younger researchers – but Kat found out why anyway. 

To Kat’s astonished horror, she discovered a fully functioning partial cyber conversion unit in the secret room. Placing a hand on the unit, she was immediately zapped away from the room by Zachariah, the dick-bag of an Angel watching over her that afternoon, he dispersed it’s molecules across the universe once they were safely away from it, and questioning Jack as to its presence there the next second. Needless to say, Jack knew nothing of its being there. All eyes turned to Ianto.

With Ianto’s confession of guilt to the machines presence in the base, came an idea to Kat, and, one by one, she ‘investigated’ the minds of the rest of the team for possibly dangerous secrets they held towards the hub. She was astonished by what she found. Owen’s ….ahem, relationship…..with a character in a virtual reality game that had broken through all the firewalls and safeties Tosh had built into the hubs computer systems, Tosh’s experimental programs on the computers themselves, Jack’s ‘private’ suite in the hidden level beneath his office – who knew what he did there?, not to mention Gwen’s ‘borrowing’ items to try to improve her home life with Rhys.

The ‘team’ were stunned by the number of secrets being kept by them all – how could they trust one another now? That’s when Adam whispered something to Kat, with a thoughtful frown followed by a nod, Kat decreed time out, and to meet again, same place next morning at nine sharp, telling Zach to ensure the Angelic support squad were all there too.

When morning came, the whole massed gang was there – Angels, former vessel, Archangels, Torchwood team, and Apostle alike – sat around the table, looking expectantly from one to the other, baffled as to what Adam and Kat had planned. When they had walked in, smiles on their faces and hands linked, Kat had announced it to be a ‘team building’ exercise.

Adam took a seat at the end of the table opposite Jack, and Kat stood directly behind him, stance loose and easy, Adam relaxed in his seat. Kat spoke up. _”So, yesterday we learned secrets about all of the ‘Team Torchwood’, and I believe they’re a little uncertain of how they can trust one another anymore. Correct?”_ When they all nodded, she smiled reassuringly at them. _”Well, today, we’re going to have a team confidence building day. Adam, are you ready?”_

When Adam grinned and nodded confidently, Kat spoke again _”Adam had the idea that, starting with himself, I should ‘reveal’ two or three secrets about everyone – you host as well – so we’re all a little better acquainted.”_ Laying her fingers gently on Adam’s head, information bubbles appeared on the projector screen behind Jack’s head. 

1\. Eaten by a Ghoul along with mum.  
2\. Resurrected from Heaven by Zachariah to ‘be Michael’s vessel for the Apocalypse’.  
3\. Went to Hell with Michael, Sam and Lucifer when plan to trap Dean went wrong.  
Mumbles arose from the Torchwood team that it was all lies, until a red faced Zachariah and Michael confessed that it wasn’t. Kat moved on round to Michael sitting beside his former vessel.

1\. Cast brother out of Heaven for Loving Dad (God) too much.  
2\. Threw same brother into Hell’s cage for turning man’s soul into a demon.  
3\. Tried to kill same brother when Winchester brothers were attempting to prevent catastrophic Apocalypse.  
Michael was eyed warily, mutters of not wanting to piss him off and striking him from the Christmas list were heard. Kat moved round to the next in line, Balthazar.

1\. Un-sank Titanic, allegedly because of a dislike of the movie and Celine Dion.  
2\. Faked his death and stole many of Heavens weapons so he could live free life on Earth.  
3\. Is a wine loving piss-artist with a well hidden streak of good nature.  
More looks exchanged as he hid his reddened face in his hands, cursing the teenager behind him. Kat moved round to Owen, who looked more than a little antsy about it.

1\. Isn’t nearly as cold hearted as he makes out.  
2\. Has reluctant crush on Tosh.  
3\. Wants to be noticed for more than his work as a Doctor.  
Owen eyed Kat sourly and looked resolutely at his hands. The Apostle shifted to Inias, and his shoulders tensed as her fingers brushed softly over his brows.

1\. Was a fledgling with Samandriel.  
2\. Was in Hester’s platoon when set upon by the Leviathan.  
3\. Is fonder of some siblings than he should be.  
Inias laid a hand on Kat’s before she moved round to stand behind Castiel, who flinched slightly at her delicate touch.

1\. Worked with King of Hell to open Purgatory.  
2\. Betrayed and injured friends to do so, including the one he’s in love with.  
3\. Has killed many Angels when insanity drove him to imagine himself as God.  
Castiel looked to his feet as all looked at him with astonishment or disbelief. Then came Ianto’s turn.

1\. Brought cyber-conversion unit into Torchwood to attempt to save his girlfriend in secret.  
2\. Was ready to fight his colleagues when they found out.  
3\. Is having torrid affair with Jack now.  
Ianto’s face lit up scarlet with embarrassment as he gazed firmly at his shoes. Then came Jack’s turn in the hot seat. Jack was cocky – he’d lived hundreds of years since the incident with Rose, the Doctor and the Daleks, and he was confident he would withstand Kat’s gentle probing. He lived to regret his certainty.

1\. Was married and has adult daughter and a grandchild.  
2\. Is not, in fact, called Jack Harkness – that’s an identity he assumed from an American serviceman that disappeared in WW2.  
3\. Swings every which way, not just male or female.  
Jack, taken by complete surprise, reacted strongly to the revelations about himself, grabbing hold of Kat’s hand and wrenching it away from his face, the Angels instantly on their feet, Angel blades at the ready. Jack, dropping her as if she’d burned him, leapt to his feet and prepared to stomp off, only to find himself unable to move away. Smiling gently, Kat moved on to Gwen.

1\. Has had an affair with Owen, pretending to be working late to Rhys.  
2\. Has crush, of sorts, on Jack.  
3\. Gets frustrated with Jacks secretive ways, and took charge quite well when he left for a year.  
Gwen looked as though she’d just seen Owen banging the Torchwood SUV with Ianto’s coffee maker, while the rest of the ‘team’ looked shocked at these revelations. On to Zachariah.

1\. Is only interested in helping others if there’s something in it for himself.  
2\. Claims to be a ‘necrophile’ - made claims of ‘banging’ Sam and Dean’s deceased mother.  
3\. Is Michael’s second in command (and as big an asshole as it’s possible to be).  
Zachariah actually looked shame-faced, which was something of a surprise – until Michael barked out, in a loud, stern aside, that he’d talk to him of his behaviour later – then it made sense. Kat moved round to Gabriel.

1\. Faked it as a Trickster demi god – Loki – for millennia before being discovered by the Brothers Winchester.  
2\. Has a penchant for devouring sweets and desserts, a left-over from his trickster days.  
3\. Has a gigantor sized crush on Sam Winchester  
Gabriel ‘choked’ on the candy he was eating – and clicked his fingers. Nothing happened due to the actions of his siblings protecting the Apostle and the computers. The technician of Torchwood, Tosh, was next up.

1\. Is in love with Owen.  
2\. Can decode more technological gadgetry than most people have ever come across.  
3\. Read her team-mates minds while wearing a pendant given her by an alien she had an affair with.  
The humans in the room gazed at Tosh with wondering eyes – just WHAT had she read? While the Apostle moved on to the penultimate being at the table – Samandriel.

1\. Was taught to fly by Castiel.  
2\. Was captured and tortured by Crowley, giving up the secret of the Angel tablet as a result.  
3\. Was murdered by a mind controlled Castiel, on Naomi’s orders.  
Castiel looked at his feet while everyone else looked between Samandriel and himself. Then it was Lucifer’s turn.

1\. Made plans to kill off all of mankind, and his own Demons, if his Apocalypse had been successful.  
2\. Wore Adam’s brother, Sam Winchester, as a vessel for the Apocalypse.  
3\. Murdered a hotel full of Pagan Gods, and his brother Gabriel, in a failed attempt to persuade said Winchester brother to be his vessel at that time.  
Lucifer kept his head up high, meeting the eyes of everyone in turn as he swept his gaze around the room. Castiel rose to his feet. _”Kathleen, it would seem only fair for some of your own secrets to be revealed – you’ve revealed those of everyone else._ He came to stand at the Apostle’s side, and placed gentle fingers on her face. The computer screen flared brightly to life.

1\. CALL ME THAT NAME AND YOU WILL BE **HURT** Hurt. Hurt. Hurt. Hurt. Hurt.  
2\. Had phobia of Chinchillas as a child.  
3\. Thinks most of Gabriel’s jokes lame and tasteless.  
Castiel frowned and asked Kat to stop blocking his attempts to read her memories. Adam’s taking hold of her hand distracted her just enough for Cas to continue.

4\. Thinks Adam should wear skinny jeans more often as they emphasize his tasty looking butt.  
5\. Feels the Angels / Archangels take themselves too seriously.  
6\. Wonders what the beings she has encountered in her Apostle training would look like in sexy super-hero / super - villain outfits.  
Kat gave an outraged shriek, and attempted to leave, but was prevented by Adam’s grip, and his asking if they could bring his brothers over and do the same with them. She agreed, and Sam, Dean, and Kevin all appeared. The trio of new-comers were bewildered, until Gwen, taking pity on them, explained, and showed them the ‘secrets’ revealed so far. They sat and readied themselves. Sam was first.

1\. Has deep-seated sense of self-loathing for having allowed himself to become addicted to demon-blood.  
2\. Is plagued by constant feelings of not being worthy to be loved or saved.  
3\. Has suppressed, profound desire for Gabriel, despite his having murdered Dean multiple times.  
Sam looked at his hands in shame as Dean yelled and Gabriel smirked. Kevin took a deep breath when Kat moved around behind him.

1\. Sometimes longs for the simplicity of his former life, when his biggest worry was writing his Princeton entrance essay.  
2\. Found it incredibly hot yet awkward when he accidentally saw Cas and Dean make out after a successful hunt.  
3\. Wants desperately to be loved for himself, not for his brain or his being a ‘prophet’.  
Sympathy filled gazes swept round to the Asian youth as Kat went to stand determinedly behind Dean. He tensed as her fingers brushed his face.

1\. Enjoyed torturing souls in Hell for Alistair.  
2\. Is despairingly clinging to denial about his deep and profound love for Castiel – HE’S NOT GAY, DAMNIT!  
3\. Can’t help but blame Sam for most of what’s gone wrong in his life, Sam or his Father, that is.  
Dean, face both mortified and guilty, averted his gaze and clenched his hands together in his lap. Silence reigned for a while until Ianto broke it to ask who wanted coffee, they left the table in small groups and the remains of the day was spent talking, trust re-building and getting to know one another again in the light of this new knowledge and the facts now before them all.


	3. Chapter 3

When Kat awoke the next morning, it was with the sure and certain knowledge that she HAD to get back to the Bunker, and she had to have certain beings with her – she just didn’t know how she knew, or why they had to be there.

Throwing on clothes, she ordered Adam into day clothes and summoned Lucifer, Michael, Gabriel and Castiel, and had them zap them all over to Kansas. They arrived in the Men Of Letters Library to find the whole place full of smoke, alarms blaring and emergency lighting flickering dimly through the dense atmosphere. Coughing and choking on the acrid smoke, Kat started yelling for the Winchesters and Kevin.

The Archangels started to eradicate the smoke as Kevin appeared from the gloom beyond them, blurry figures seeming to be bearing four lights appearing further back still. As the smoke cleared, the figures resolved themselves into Sam and Dean – but something was badly wrong with the image they presented. Their hands…..they were glowing WHITE HOT! Burning brightly like freshly forged metal.

Turning immediately to Kevin, Kat placed her forehead gently against his, and knew what to do. Taking a gentle but firm grip on Sam’s left hand, she pressed his hand against Gabriel’s upper left arm, repeating it with his right hand over Lucifer’s right bicep. Turning to Dean, she pressed his left hand to Cas’s left bicep, and then his right hand over Michael’s vessels right upper arm.

Explaining that, the handprint, with initials, marked the bond mates / soul-mate of the beings involved, all seemed well, until her own, Kevin’s and Adam’s hands all started to heat and glow brightly. Kat pressed desperately to Kevin’s head again, this time pressing her left hand to Adam’s left bicep and her right one to Gabe’s right bicep, guiding Adam’s left hand to her own left arm, discovering that ALL of the beings that had been introduced to her were involved in the bonding chain.  
As they all appeared, so she, with occasional re-checks with Kevin, guided everyone to make their bonds. She linked herself to Gabriel’s right arm and Sam to his left, then Lucifer to Sam’s right as his left was held by Gabe. Lucifer’s left arm was bonded by Kevin, and Kevin’s right by Samandriel. Samandriel’s left was taken by Ellen and her right by Inias.

Jo took Inias’s left and Zachariah her right, His left held by Garth and Garth’s right by Balthazar who held Cas’s right arm in his Cas, of course, held onto Dean’s arm and Dean was on the other side of Michael to Adam. The ring was completed.  
Gasping with pain and exhilaration, Kat struggled to explain that they had formed a chain of bonds, unbreakable, irreversible and permanent. All would feel the strongest emotions of everyone, just in varying levels of strength - the closer in the chain to the hurt / scared / endangered one, the stronger they would feel it. They were, in the truest sense of the word, one another’s protectors. 

A voice in their heads said that soul mate did not necessarily equate to bed mate, but it often did. The voice went on to explain that, if the Angels put their ‘mark’ on the others in their group, it would strengthen the bond, and provide more robust protection for each member. 

The mark of the Angel, is their vessel’s handprint with their Angelic symbol on the palm, as soon as the last mark was placed, a brilliant, clear golden light filled the whole bunker, and a feeling of calm spread all around.

Arriving back in the Hub, the party of humans and Angels, still slightly sore from the heated exchange, settled into their usual routine, Kat and Adam in the depths of the tunnels, analysis of the archived items going by at a flying rate, Adam messing around with some of the less dangerous ones, amusing Kat and occupying them both – saving them both from thinking about that mornings revelations and what it might mean to be the true soul mate of the other one. 

All at once, the tunnel receded, and an old, bare wooden cabin stood in their place – tumble-down and derelict as it was, something dark was making the surrounding countryside gloomy and sinister. Something was wrong. But what? What was inside that had drawn the two of them from the depths of a Cardiff basement to wherever on Earth this run-down shack was? 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kat awoke to find herself in total darkness, a cloth of some type bound tightly over her eyes, her hands tied behind her back, she was bent at the knees and appeared to be hobbled – her ankles and wrists secured together. Things looked bad indeed. 

Taking a deep breath, she whisper-yelled for Adam. Silence. Not true silence though, she could make out distant traffic and bird song, sounds of country industry like tractors and ploughs, cattle and horses. Where the hell was she? A near silent sound broke the stillness around her, and a familiar, hoarse voice murmured in her covered ear.

 _”Fear not, we’re all aware of your situation and have preparations in hand to bring about your safe rescue. Adam is also being held in the same building, just a different area, so we’ll retrieve him too. Keep the faith, Apostle, your Heavenly defenders are on their way.”_ Michael’s voice, tone and mannerisms still a little awkward, stilted, a bit like Cas.

Taking a breath, and trying to calm her racing heart, Kat thought of all the good things she had, Eowyn, Gerard, and Pippin her pets, Adam her soul mate and Gabriel, her other bond mate, the host and hunters that were now her friends, not to mention her parents renewed health – thanks to those self-same Angels. As she counted her blessings, her breathing and heart rate eased and the rapidly approaching panic attack disappeared as if never there.

Listening intently now, Kat could hear sounds of fighting in the distance, quiet at first, but growing closer and louder, scratching wildly at her bindings, Kat fought to free herself from her ties. Mere minutes later, the door broke open, and sounds of fists and feet meeting skin covered bones was immediately before her. Edging to the wall, Kat tried to evade the fighting until she could at least SEE. 

A worried, if smug, looking Zachariah pulled the blindfold off of Kat’s eyes, revealing a pitched battle between ALL EIGHT of the host, the hunters and Adam, battling against the combined forces of Crowley and Alistair, a blonde woman keeping careful watch from the background, as if she didn’t want to be seen. Unfortunately for her, Lucifer saw her, and called her name, in his true, ear-splitting voice, she stood tall, and turned to face him.

Calling her name, this time so all could understand him, Lucifer again shouted to the blonde, referring to her as Ruby, making Crowley and Alastair pause in their fighting too. The forces of evil taking stock of the stranger’s stand-off with the devil. The Angels and their co-fighters easily took care of the off-guard warriors of darkness.

The rescue did not come without its price though. Wounds adorned the skin of the humans, bleeding indicated that the Angels wings had not gone unharmed, and scorch marks on all of them showed where the demons had used hellfire against the forces of good and righteousness. Even Kat had contusions and a cut down her back that refused to stop bleeding. In all, they were in a sorry state.

Kat and Adam, once the danger was over, felt an unfamiliar tug around their waists, Michael alluding to it being the ‘connection’ to them all, trying to return them to where they’d been prior to the fight, Kat, still, obviously, shaken, refused to be parted from them OR Adam, and insisted that, whether Wales or America, they all be together while they healed. Michael declared that they all, Angels, Humans and all, would recover together in the Men Of Letters Bunker. A message was sent to Gwen explaining that ‘unforeseen circumstances’ required Kat and Adam’s presence in America for a few days. All of them, Zach included, relaxed in the pleasant, familiar warmth of the Bunker.  
Once the two were due to return to Wales, Kevin asked if he couldn’t see what their ‘other home’ was like, and was granted a visit, so long as he was accompanied by at least one other. Sam pointed out that neither he nor his brother had ever been to Wales either, so they all went, exploring new places, broadening their horizons and meeting new people. Kat had great fun introducing them all to her young cousins, all four of them being under seven at the time. Sam proved to be a favourite for climbing on – his great height giving advantage of a better view from his shoulders.

The Angels hadn’t let on, but getting used to young children would prove to be important in the coming events – and though all of the children Kat introduced them to were female, Dean had the experience of having spent time with Ben to call on if needed. 

They all learned to make fairy tale castles out of cardboard boxes and how to pin old curtains and tablecloths into dresses and cloaks. Adam aced them all at moulding figures in clay while Kevin proved to be a master chef when it came to fairy cakes and tartlets. Dean and Gabriel excelled at eating them.

Once back in the States and Cardiff respectively, the two groups got down to work, Kevin making inroads into the Demon tablet while Kat and Adam rapidly made their way through the backlog of artefacts in the Torchwood archives. Still, now, weeks on from the bonding, Kat and Adam were un-resolved as to their feelings about being the others soul-mate. If only they’d known it, the resolution to their quandary was rapidly approaching.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The word 'Caerdydd' is Welsh for 'Cardiff'.
> 
> Lunabaest is a mixture of my own, meaning beast of the moon.

The two groups had been hard at it for months when the first happening occurred. It didn’t seem out of place for either team in the beginning, but that all changed when certain…..odd events……drew links between the two towns, all those thousands of kilometres apart, in ways impossible for even the least observant to ignore.

Dean and Sam had been on a hunt, a nasty poltergeist in Memphis, when writing appeared on the wall behind its grave, as its bones flared and turned to ash. In old Enochian, the words Lunabaest and Caerdydd (the Welsh for Cardiff) appeared, gleaming in olden Pagan gold. Gabriel, who, as Sam’s soul mate was seldom far from him, read it out, and froze in shock. This then, was no accident – this was a message, sent expressly for them. They had to get a message to Torchwood ASAP.

Meantime, Kat and Adam were up to their necks in it with problems of their own. Owen, being Owen, had ‘hit on’ a woman in a bar, taken her home and screwed her. Trouble was, she wasn’t JUST a woman – she was a Vespiguard – a type of human wasp hybrid that did the dirty, then did the dirty to their mates. Kind of like a winged, stinged, black widow. Good thing for Owen that Kat had deciphered what one of the oldest archived items was – that very day – or he’d have come and gone in minutes – literally. 

The device that Kat had held that morning, or, one of the five, was a sensor that detected increased levels of toxin producing enzymes in insectivorous species. In short, it picked up on any insect species that were increasing production of poisons in any one place to significant levels – it went right off the scale when Owen started to chat up his would-be fuck buddy. Kat, still in the tunnels with Adam, grabbed it and yelled for Jack.

With the arrival – in the nick of time – of Jack, Kat, Adam and the team, the Vespiguard proclaimed that it mattered not, the Winchester would be more than sufficient to subsume the needs of the whole Vespiguard commune. Adam and Kat exchanged looks and summoned Cas. 

Castiel didn’t arrive alone, with him came Gabriel, bearing the warning that had appeared on the wall beside the poltergeists tomb, he and Cas reacted violently to the veiled threat against ‘the Winchester’ – whichever it would prove to be. 

Kat started when the message from the doomed spirit sank into her mind. It preyed at a hidden memory – something just out of reach. She knew it was important, and related to the very beginnings of Torchwood foundation, but was, momentarily, unable to access what it was. With a sigh of defeat, Kat turned away, leaning into Adam’s shoulder in an unconscious quest for comfort.

The Vespiguard was, courtesy of an upset Gabriel, transported to the Men Of Letters Bunker – for examination and questioning, of course. The look on his face said the female would not survive the interview. Cas, meanwhile, reported the two events to the other Archangels, and went back to Dean after. 

Michael and Lucifer, forced to get on since the strange ‘bonding’ a few months before, now turned their vast intelligence to the new threats, seemingly un-related, but suspiciously timed to coincide. It felt good to have a common cause after all these millennia. 

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Back in Torchwood, Adam was trying to comfort Kat as she strove ever harder to detangle her messy memories of what she’d learned since she’d arrived at the hub. Suddenly, frustration and worry pushed Adam to do something he’d never even thought of before – he pulled Kat up to her feet, and pressed his lips to hers. It was a desperate act, not thought out at all, and certainly not planned for, but it seemed to do SOMETHING. 

Kat pulled gently back, her fingers touching her lips, eyes wide on Adam, waiting for …..She knew not what. Adam watched her too, his mind racing with his previous action, and how Kat might respond. What he didn’t expect was for her to grin widely, and turn to the computer console in front of her, now furiously banging away at the keys as her mind, suddenly crystal clear and perfectly ordered, told her exactly what she needed to know about the Lunabaest and Caerdydd.

Spinning excitedly around to face Adam once more, Kat pressed an exuberant kiss to his cheek and bust into speech. _”Adam, thank you! You did it! You sorted the jumble that was my mind, letting me remember what the Lunabaest is, and how Caerdydd relates to it, and it’s all down to you! “_

She kissed his lips and, lifting him up, swung him in circles in her joy at having solved the riddle. Adam, understandably, was clueless as to how his kiss had helped, but was glad to have pleased her, when she put him down, he held her close, hugging her tenderly. Their ‘bond’ cementing in their glow of excited contentment. That’s when Sam phoned to discover what was lighting the two of them up so happy – Gabriel was incandescent himself at that moment.

Sam’s voice re-affirmed the connection between them all, and reminded Kat of the duty of care she bore to everyone, easing away from Adam, she scurried off to find Jack. With Kat gone, Adam asked Sam how things were going with the Vespiguard their end – the reply was far from the expected answer.

It turned out that ‘The Winchester’ in question was not Sam, nor was it Dean, it was – if you’ll pardon my old fashioned phraseology – the bastard off-spring of a pureblood and a maiden of sufferance great. The ‘Winchester’ was not a Winchester at all – It was a Milligan, and his name was Adam. The very person Sam was talking to over the phone.

Adam’s skin crawled as he remembered being eaten by the two Ghouls that had dined out on him and his mother in revenge for John - his, Dean and Sam’s father - having killed the Ghoul’s father. The thought that he was again being targeted by supernatural / extra-terrestrial beings not one in which he found comfort. The next split second found Kat at his side, still mid-sentence to Jack as her soul mate’s pain and fear reached her, and she hugged Adam to try and raise his spirits.

Michael appeared his former vessel’s distress summoning him, and, on being told of the Vespiguard’s message and its import for Adam, he took charge of rendering the threat obsolete. Adam nor Kat asked what he meant by the phrase.

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A few days later, Kat and Adam were actually out on a real, honest to goodness case with Jack and co, when something happened that brought about an intense struggle, not only for the Torchwood team, but for the whole ‘chain of bondees’ too. 

That morning, just after Ianto had served them all coffee, the computers had lit up with alarms and warnings, brighter than the sky on November Fifth. Rapidly taking readings, triangulating positions and scanning for extra information, the team and trainees set off in the Torchwood SUV for the downtown, residential area that had registered so much activity on all the scanners.

Stealthily reconnoitring the area, four small, alien devices started to revolve and emit a strange milky purple mist, a mist that crept out and surrounded Kat and Adam, thickening until they were invisible within its depths. Sam and Kevin briefly appeared before being consumed in the mysterious fog. Tiny, cherry red lights began to glow and swirl, hurricane like, within the mist, four columns of swirling light and vapour revolving faster and faster until, with a blinding scarlet flash of light and a quiet pop, the whole lot disappeared, people, devices, mist, lights and all.

The next thing Kat knew, she was in nothing. Complete sensory deprivation – no smell, sound, touch, taste, nor anything to see. She shouted for Adam, and could not even hear her own voice. More than a little freaked out, she prayed, long and hard, to all the Angels, and Archangels, in the chain of bondees, desperate for some kind of something – anything - to fill the void.

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When the mist and lights cleared, revealing a complete lack of anything extra-terrestrial, and no Kat, Adam, Sam or Kevin either, Jack and co knew they were in trouble, and probably had been deliberately targeted – why else would the Apostle, the Prophet, Michael’s former vessel and Lucifer’s former vessel ALL have been taken at once? The reason was, at least for now, unknown.

Before the thought had finished forming in Gwen’s mind, the Host of Angels, and three very pissed off Archangels, had all appeared, glowing with Heavenly wrath and righteous indignation at the lack of protection that had been, apparently, received by the Apostle and other vitally important members of the Human race. As Jack struggled to find words to explain, Gabriel slumped onto a seat, his fingers going to his forehead, as a vision – a memory – of one of Kat’s early pranks as she came into her powers implanted itself into his mind. _”Kat…..”_ he said. His brothers zapping everyone back to the Hub.

Gabriel’s quiet word stilled all action and sounds in the hub, gaining the attention of everyone there present, and his pained expression gave way to one of fear, then confusion. A rapid flicker of images ran through his mind as Kat, straining herself and her newly discovered powers to the max, pushed fleeting images of first the gadgets as they first appeared, then the swirling milky purple mist complete with cherry lights, then the pitch black nothingness that she found herself in now. Exhausted, she drifted into unconsciousness. 

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Kat, on regaining consciousness, was filled with hope, because although she was still alone in the featureless void, she had used one of her new abilities to contact help – what else could she now do? First, she stretched her senses out, far beyond herself, out into the darkness beyond, and found the spirit of Adam, someone else’s consciousness on the edge of her senses. She stretched further. There, right on the very limit of her abilities, there was both Sam and Kevin – alone, afraid, but there.

Trying something else, she concentrated and there, in her arms, was a toy poodle pup, like a miniature version of the standard black poodle she’d had a few years before, tiny lights ringing his collar. Concentrating further, harder, and stretching out once again, she landed a small dog with each of the men, lighted collars pronouncing them ‘Love Kat’. To Adam she sent a West Highland Terrier puppy, to Sam she sent a Golden Labrador puppy, and to Kevin a Whippet /Sheep dog cross breed puppy. At last, a small measure of comfort in the bewildering, endless black. 

Adam, responding, said _”Kat, is this really from you?”_ Kat was astounded to hear him, and tried to reply, all he heard was a quiet ‘ruff’. He spoke again _”Kat, where are you? Where am I come to that? What’s happening?”_ ‘Arf, arf’ was all he got by reply. _”Do I have to ask yes or no questions?”_ ‘Ruff’.

She ‘barked’ to Sam and Kevin in turn, neither immediately picking up on the connection to Kat via the animals – Adam, as her soul mate, was the one closest to her in bond and mind, so picked up on it the fastest – but eventually they caught on, and she found herself answering questions and doing her best to reassure all of them – herself included – that this was only temporary, and that they would be rescued.

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As Gabriel blinked and rubbed his face, his rapid fire visions of Kat’s memories making no immediate sense to him, so his siblings and the torchwood team gathered around, eager to discover what he’d seen. As he gathered himself, Michael and Lucifer ‘read’ his recent thoughts, allowing them to ‘see’ what he’d just seen for themselves. Lucifer, disbelieving the evidence of his own mind’s eye, named the culture that had produced the gadgets – he did not seem to be happy about his discovery.

As the Archangels and Angels spoke of the beings that had the four abductees, the team from Torchwood were hard at it, working the computers and readouts, scanners and printouts, pulling together all the information they could about the events of that day. There, hidden in the multitude of facts and figures, charts, maps and other paraphernalia, was one, tiny little, insignificant detail. Minute, barely worth noting, but significant enough to give a clue, to those with the capacity to work it out, to tell them where the hostages were.

By this time, all the chain of bondees had been stirred up over the disappearance of the four hostages, and Heaven, and Earth was in uproar over it – or at least as much of each as was involved in the chain. Ellen and Jo in their Heavens had been found by Ash, who had, in turn, put them in touch with Bobby, Pamela and Mary. The discord caused by the disappearances on Earth got all of them in on the search too.

The Angels, each one going to their contacts on Earth, made a further search possible, and Dean put out the word on the Hunter network – a leftover from Bobby’s time and one of the most ‘clique-iest’ contact networks on the planet. Still, the Winchesters were well known, and as for the Prophet and the Apostle – they were instruments of God, even the disbelievers were unwilling to risk the wrath of the one possible almighty being in existence.

In a place far from Earth, the culprits – a select gathering of Aliens, far older than the Sol star system - believing that THEY were God’s children, had stolen away the key-pieces of the future end-game winner – without the four abductees, the world, mankind, could not hope to succeed in their upcoming battle for survival – even if the Angels, and Archangels pulled together and all worked as a team for a change. They foresaw the destruction of Planet Earth and Mankind, and glorious God – given blessings for themselves.

With this knowledge came a way to circumvent the disaster and retrieve those oh, so important hostages. Jack, with Michael, Lucifer, and Gabriel, made plans for retrieval of their bondees, while Gwen, Owen and Tosh arranged with the rest of the bondees to be at the Hub when it all went down, ready to help support the newly returned and prove to the Alien race that Mankind was not such a pushover as they seemed to think.

As the Archangels and Angels took flight to the planet that had the captives - a swift, well planned strike reclaiming the hostages and bringing misery to the master-planners. Dean and Ellen, with Jo - having decided to bring a little bit of vengeance to the beings responsible - had made a small but potent device that Lucifer and Gabriel, in their doubled intensity of pain and fear, were more than pleased to deploy. The explosive was enough to destroy half of a city planted as deep as the Archangels did. 

The relief felt by all of the chain of bondees on their rescue was so immense it defied description, their rejoicing knew no limits, and even the likes of Zachariah gave thanks for the success of the mission. Once safely back on Earth, the four were welcomed and pampered by all, their soul mates paying particular attention to their wellbeing and return to physical and mental health, this being more difficult for Adam and Kat as both had been taken. Still, with the support of the Host, they were well.


	5. Chapter 5

She sent out an emergency call to Jack - code red – a system they’d set up when she started examining artefacts to alert them to threats, or possible threats, to base, National, or world security. It kind of seemed that an explosive device that powerful, of that nature, would Time continued on it path, as did the two teams, decoding artefacts, reacting to supernatural and alien threats and incursions, and generally acting as the job they were doing entailed. For Kat this meant a few missions that involved both Angels and Hunters – there being some aliens that had supernatural abilities, thus needing the aid of Sam and Dean as well as Jack and co, along with the Angels. Twice though, she called in all three agencies just for ‘team building’, to force them to work with the other groups and get along ‘in order to survive’ (or not, depending on how she actioned it).

The first time was purely to see just how well the three groups, all so different, COULD work together under pressure. That was a situation she set off by herself, and had Adam in on, proving to both of them how malleable and dependable the agencies all were. Jack had left Adam and Kat in the depths of the tunnels when an alarm suddenly went off – not something he was MEANT to do – Angel ruling prohibited it, in fact – and among the artefacts she had analysed while Torchwood were absent was a small, but extremely powerful, thermo-nuclear dev

As Kat delicately handled the unfamiliar object, it gave a quiet tick, and vibrated gently in her hand – evidently either her tentative handling or subconscious telepathic connection had done something to it, and it was now active. As Jack had left dire threats of what might happen if an unexpected development came from her handling the artefacts, she knew she had to call him, as this definitely came under that description. Jack put the whole of the Torchwood team on alert, and returned to the Hub, post haste.

Next she called Sam about the markings on it – some had shown to be alien in origin, others more Earthly in nature – it seemed that whichever alien race had ‘dropped’ the bomb, they were working with one of the more sophisticated supernatural species, if there was such a thing as an Arch-Demon, this was surely it. It bore Sulphur ingrained into the metal of the casing, and had Anti-Angel warding all over it – it kind of gave the game away. She asked Gabriel to confirm what she thought the warding sigils were. 

Before anyone got to them, the tennis ball sized orb began to glow, dimly at first, brightening and changing colour as it did. First, it wasn’t much different to the silvery coloured metal it was made of, then, slowly, it deepened and brightened to a faintly orange glow, before brightening to a brilliant, golden white. Kat stood, seemingly idly watching it light up and glow. Adam was concerned.

 _”Kat, what’s it doing? Is it meant to be doing that? Are we safe? You said it was a bomb, shouldn’t we be doing something to get away from it, or stop it going off? Why are you just standing there?”_

Kat, eyes never leaving the now deeply golden sphere, remarked, in an even voice _”I’m trying to keep calm. If I let myself react, I’ll panic, and probably make this thing go off a lot faster than it should, so I’m doing my best to keep as relaxed and chilled out as I can, so I don’t freak out. I wish your brothers and the Angels were here though. They might know what to do with this thing before it blows us both up.”_

Adam, eyes wide with respect for the Apostle’s calm, common-sense attitude – it did a lot to calm him down too – took a deep breath and nodded. Sam and Dean arrived with Gabriel and Castiel then, Gabe rapidly confirming that it was, indeed, Angel proofing on the outer skin of the bomb, calling Lucifer to try to identify, between them, which demon was responsible, and which alien too. 

Lucifer recognised the handiwork of his first – Lilith, and one member of a family from Raxacoricofallapatorios, in the script – and sigils – working on the skin of the bombs casing. Summoning them both, he questioned them over their intentions – now they were captured – on ceasing the bombs countdown toward detonation. They both replied in the negative.

During this time, Dean and Sam, with Castiel, were kept busy with the local supernatural beings reacting strongly to the radiation being emitted by the object, and going into killing overdrive. The Torchwood team - minus Tosh, who was in the Hub, frantically attempting to bring the situation under control from there - were equally busy with Weevils and Hoixes coming out of hiding and hunting in packs. The bomb – so small in size – was creating a Tsunami of side effects in addition to the very real and increasingly likely threat of going off. 

Back in the tunnel, Kat was still gazing at the rapidly colour-changing glow being emitted from the device in her hand – she’d tuned out the fact that – should the three teams working to circumvent the explosion fail – she, Adam, and the whole bay area of Cardiff, would go up in a fiery ball of superheated rock and gas. Keeping her gaze on the ball shaped object in her hand, she spoke with Adam.

 _”So, Adam, do you think your brothers will ever get their heads out of their asses long enough to see that they’re in love with Angels, and actually, finally, fuck them? Or is that something that ‘I’m too manly to be sexually interested with an Angel in a male vessel’ Dean, and ‘I don’t deserve love’ Sam will do on their own without a big ass nudge?”_

Adam, a thoughtful smile on his face, rest his hand on her shoulder and said _”I don’t know. I mean, they both have that ‘eye-sex’ thing going on, Dean more than Sam, sure, but he’s got it too. And while Castiel may be ‘innocent’ where sex – or cloud seeding – is involved, there’s no way that Gabriel is, though he might have problems admitting that he’s fallen for one of the ‘chuckle-heads’ that he antagonised over and over. We’ll just have to see, I guess. I really don’t wanna think about my brother’s sex lives though, thanks Kat.”_

Kat chuckled, and thought – ruefully – that she really didn’t fancy thinking about her sisters’ love lives either. A tender smile came to her face when she thought of her no-longer-Autistic sisters, how – now that they were ‘normal’ to use a phrase she found distasteful when referring to people – they both seemed, once they adjusted to a major change in their mental capacities, to be readily settling into new, and brilliantly different, live-styles. Doing things they’d never have been able to if it weren’t for the Angels interceding on their behalves.

The bomb let out a loud tick, and started to less gently vibrate in her hand, reminding her of the desperate seriousness of their situation – she sent out a rapid prayer / update to all the Angels that were listening. Lucifer, with Lilith and the Raxacoricofallapatorian in tow, reappeared in the tunnel nearby. When the beings still refused to defuse the bomb, Lucifer, without pausing for thought, despatched them, and their bomb, into the heart of the sun, where the device went off safely and the two conspirators were instantly vaporised – never able to cause trouble again.

Drama over, the groups –tired, hungry and edgy – gathered once more to talk over the night’s drama. Kat’s first call for help had gone out to Jack at around four thirty in the afternoon, Lucifer had zapped the bomb and its creators into the sun at eleven the next morning. The whole, stressful, trying event had lasted a total of eighteen and a half hours, involving, for some of the beings, crossing the Pacific Ocean – and therefore many time zones – increasing the levels of tiredness to astronomically.

During the ‘debriefing’ Castiel, looking deep into Kat’s eyes, declared _”Kathleen, Apostle, you set this off deliberately, knowing the damage it could do and that you could have stopped it at any time. Why would you do such a thing?”_ Kat, irritated, tired and hungry, stared disbelievingly at the Angel. 

_”Castiel. You read my mind while we were doing the team building day when I first came to Torchwood. What was the very first of the six ‘secrets’ you revealed about me?”_. Castiel, thought for a moment, and replied, in an approximation of a pissed Kat’s voice _”’Call me that name and you will be HURT, hurt, hurt, hurt, hurt, hurt. ‘ Oh, oh.”_ His next words were muffled by Kat’s fist suddenly landing in his face – hard enough to snap his head back on his neck. Everyone in the room flinched as Cas put a hand to his face, surprise his expression as his hand came away red and sticky with fresh blood – from his vessels newly broken nose. 

Kat cradled her painful hand, but stared down the Angel, before eyeing everyone else in the room too. _”Hurts, doesn’t it, Cas? That’s what happens to you when you piss off the Apostle. Everyone clear on that? And yes, I set that thing off deliberately, and I could have stopped it at any time but I didn’t. You want to know why? Really? Okay then. I’m eighteen years old, an ordinary teenage girl with anxiety and depression. In the last eight months or so, I’ve been swept away from my family, forced into a role I had no choice in accepting, and dragged around the globe learning things I’d no desire to learn and being forced into more education when school fucked with my mind anyway. Now, despite everything I’ve done and been and seen, I’m still not finished, and my life as I knew it is over. I’m permanently bonded to being’s I’d never known before, and have a good chance of not surviving whatever the hell is coming my way. I set this test, and maybe more in the future, to prove to me, and give you all practice at, working together – all grudges aside – to do your parts in, when the time comes, giving me the back-up and support I’ll need. When my life is literally in your hands, and the whole of Earthly creation is in the balance, I need to know that, despite sibling fights and trust or judgemental issues or whatever else, you’ll ALL be able to put aside your differences and work to save this planet that you Angels, and your piddly little apocalypse threatened to tear apart. Adam, thank you, once you calmed down, you did exactly what I needed you to, you didn’t panic, or fuss, or run off, you stayed with me, helping me keep calm and enabling the rest of the teams not to need to split their attention between their jobs and me. Dean, Cas, you both did well, but for God’s sake, go get a room, get naked and get fucking. You’ll work better without all the sexual tension, and your attention won’t be split on the constant eye sex. Sam, Gabe, you too, same thing.”_

Adam, smirking, sing-songed _”The Apostle has spoken guys. Off to beddy-bye’s.”_ Lucifer, a smile on his own face, looked from Kat to Adam, and said calmly _”Apostle, former vessel of Michael, pot, kettle, black.”_ Kat snatched Adam’s shirt front, and pulled him toward herself, pressing her lips to his before smirking at the gaping crowd before them, giggling _”It’s not exactly the first time for us, guys. Keep up to speed, will you.”_ Facing Jack, she stated _”Jack, I was told that you’d be bankrolling my stay here, and so far, I’ve had nothing, despite having been here for several weeks now. I’m out of food, pet food, and could use some more clothes too. When do I get paid?”_

Jack, looking uncomfortable at being caught out in front of the Host, and his staff, held out a credit card, and stated that he thought she’d already been given it. Taking it from his fingers, she took Adam’s hand and, using a device she’d had the Angels create for her, zapped the two of them away. Kat, and Adam, running high with adrenalin from the night’s life or death drama, found themselves unable to calm down, so went into town to get a meal, and do some much needed shopping, They also decided to play at being tourists while they were out – they’d been in Wales for weeks and still knew little of the place outside of crime scenes and the Hub.

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It proved to be a beautiful day, warm and bright after the dark dankness of the Hub’s subterranean tunnels, and the two decided to eat outside, at a pavement table in one of the many cafes the city had to offer. After a long, pleasant brunch, they wandered around an open air market, and found some novelties that amused them, or made them think of their families. Each bought small gifts for their siblings – Adam chuckling at the thought of how such an action would bemuse his half-brothers.

They bought Kat’s sisters craft sets – even though they no longer had special needs, they still enjoyed varied forms of crafting. For Dean, Adam bought a leather thong bearing crossed guns – excellent gag gift for a hunter. For Sam they found a book of old Gaelic spells and counter-spells. Giving it some thought, they decided not to leave their bond-mates out of it, and Kat bought Gabriel a tin of ‘retro sweets’ – the kind of candy her mum had bought when she was a kid, for Michael, Adam got, tongue in cheek, a book on ‘Practical Parenting’, and, in a move made to prevent Cas feeling left out, bought him a small Thesaurus – to help him with his ‘rusty people skills’. Just for fun they got Lucifer a book on anger management.

After sight-seeing for a while, they went to the grocers nearest to them, and stocked up on fresh fruit and veg, also calling at a pet store to arrange delivery of a good supply of hay, wood flakes, guinea pig food, and wet and dry cat foods as well as cat litter. Then it was off to the supermarket to buy in the other necessary foods, toiletries and such like that daily life demanded. Arriving home heavily laden, they stowed everything away, and after a quick meal took an early night.


	6. Chapter 6

Next morning, well, LATE next morning, Kat and Adam arrived at the Hub in good spirits, they’d really relaxed as they explored the city and gotten to know one another’s feelings about their siblings too. More at peace than either had been in a long time, they were smiling gently as they entered through the ‘Tourist Information’ office.

Eyebrows twitched and eyes rolled as the team of five adults took in the new closeness of the two youths in their midst. The youngsters just grinned at one another and ignored them. While they were all enjoying some of Ianto’s excellent coffee, another alert went off, sending chills down Kat’s spine – for some reason, this particular alert was triggering a feeling of impending doom in her.

After gathering all available data on the nature of the incursion, off they went, armed to the teeth and pumped for action. Unfortunately, despite all preparation, they didn’t have what they needed. What they needed – a Byzantian pan-dimensional flame shield – wasn’t available on Earth, nor anywhere else nearby. Dread washed over Kat as she saw the red energy beams leaping from the end of the fingers of the alien android, its emotionless gaze revolving about it as its head swivelled on its column like neck. 

Looking on with horror-stricken eyes, Kat, with Adam and the Torchwood crew alongside, watched as the ten foot tall metallic droid lay waste to swathes of the city, fiery destruction following its blood red beams, screams of agony and fear fleeing before it. Kat made a rapid plea for any of the listening Host to come, please, assist in whatever way they could. Inias and Samandriel appeared, took one look and summoned Michael, before going to the aid of whoever seemed most in need of healing and safety.

Michael, who knew at a glance what the metallic monster was and where it came from, also knowing what was needed to shield against it and defeat its beastly heat ray. Michael, leaving and returning in mere moments – but long enough for more than a dozen innocent bystanders to be killed and countless more injured, not to mention thousands of pounds worth of damage done to the buildings and property in the area. 

Once the Android was out of commission, Michael, Samandriel, and Inias, after a little coaxing and some outright corrupting from the Apostle, helped Jack and co get the hulking remains of its smoking shell into the cavernous depths of the deepest part of Torchwoods archives. With a weary sigh, the Torchwood team started to gather what information they could on it. Kat, with a wry grin at Adam, had it assessed, analysed, and documented in less than two hours. 

Jack gave her and Adam the rest of the afternoon off, which the Angels, on hearing about, converted into a Gaelic supernatural research and seek. The particular creature they wanted her to learn about this particular time was the Banshee. According to lore, Banshee’s are an Irish, a creature that, if heard screaming, foretells of the death of the hearer. Kat was hesitant about it – such creatures came from Ireland, this was Wales for one, but they were near neighbours, as countries go, so she reluctantly began, Adam sometimes helping, more often distracting her from her studies.

It was three weeks later, on a rather unremarkable Thursday afternoon that Gabriel came to see her. He’d been scanning her feelings with increasing concern for a while and had come to the conclusion that something was increasingly wrong with the young Apostle. She smiled tiredly at him when he popped up from behind the computer where she was, again, uploading data on some of the seemingly endless backlog of artefacts about.

Gabriel took one look at Kat, and snapped. His wrath flaring, he bellowed – in a voice just shy of Earth-shaking – for Jack, Michael, and Lucifer – in fact everyone on the chain and off it that was involved with Kat – to gather immediately. A nervous crowd assembled, wondering what was winding Gabriel up so much. Yes he had a reputation as a trickster and for bringing about ‘just desserts’ on those he deemed necessary, but no-one knew what had him riled this time. They were not in the dark for long.

No sooner had the last being sat down then Gabriel began his rant. _”Look at our Apostle, you idiots. Go on, take a good look. Does she look healthy to you? Or is the poor kiddo tired beyond bearing and generally run-down and unwell looking? Think you that if this Apostle gets worn to a frazzle or killed that there’ll be another come along? I promise you in our Father’s name that it isn’t so, there is only one, there will only EVER be one, and this is how you treat her? Do you honestly think that means that, being one of Gods main humans is enough to mean she needs no sleep? No adequate nutrients or relaxation time? Shame on you all. This girl, this gentle, innocent child, has been pulled into the madness of this Universe against her will, and has thus far gone along with it with more graciousness than most people twice her age would have shown. Now you WILL be more considerate of her needs and wants, or you’ll not have an Apostle to train to save us anyhow. Are we clear?”_

Adam, eyes downcast and biting his lip nervously, peered up at Gabriel from under lowered lids. _”Gabriel, I…..”_ Gabe interrupted him with a somewhat gentler smile and said more softly _”It’s alright Adam. Kat and I both know that you do your very best to ensure she rests adequately, would that everyone gave her the same consideration you do. Calm down. I don’t blame you. It’s the rest of them that need to get their heads out of their arses.”_

Owen looked up from examining Kat, a worried look on his face. _”Gabriel, it may be worse than you think. It doesn’t look like just tiredness and malnutrition – she may be ill – I mean like anaemic, or possibly worse. I think I need to get her the med bay and take a proper look – Yes Adam, you can come too, make sure I don’t behave improperly to your little mate.”_ Adam gave one resentful look at the snide medic and took Kat’s hand, guiding her worriedly towards the indicated area. 

Gabriel and Michael went along as well, to make sure if there was anything wrong, it was dealt with as speedily as humanly possible. In the half hour it took for the examination to take place, the rest had heatedly talked of what it would mean if anything was seriously wrong with the Apostle, and what could be done about the training schedule that seemed to be placing so much strain on the young lady’s systems.

When the five returned, the Apostle looked, if anything, even worse than when they’d left, pallid and lacklustre, she seemed withdrawn and almost …… apathetic, as though she’d little or no interest in the fact that she was the one whose health was under discussion. Adam was supporting her more closely, and Gabriel snapped his fingers, turning her seat into a reclining chair. Michael was tight lipped and looked apprehensive, they grew quiet, awaiting word on the health of the only hope of the world. Owen spoke.

_”Kat’s body is undergoing massive changes, on a cellular level – changes the like have never been witnessed before. Changing to support her phenomenal new abilities and vastly, rapidly, expanding intellect. Her low BMI score means that Kat had few, if any, reserves to fall back on to begin with, those she did have are long since gone, used up in the incredible alterations to her body’s systems that have already taken place. Because she had no knowledge of these changes, or the vast need for many more nutrients and much more energy than she ever needed to consume before, and because no-one else – including me, a damned Doctor – not thinking of checking her health, these needs have been over-looked, meaning that Kat is now well on her way to severe malnutrition. With this in mind, and due to the un-natural conditions in the depths of the Hub’s archive vaults where she’s been spending so much time of late, I’ve recommended cutting back on the amount of time she spends down there – two days a week, when there’s nothing happening for her to work on with us – and much more time out in the fresh air. Adam has undertaken to improve the diets of them both – Adam also is beginning to show signs of ill-health – and I’m charged, thanks Michael, with a weekly check up on Kat – to include blood work ups and height and weight checks. The rest of you need to ease off on pressuring her to solve or resolve all your spats and problems – start to act like the adults and Angels you’re SUPPOSED to be.”_

Silence reigned for all of five minutes, each of the gathered crowd taking in what had been said – before the first of a shower of comments and questions poured in. Voices from all corners of the room called out, in no particular order, nor waiting for one to be answered before the next was raised. It sounded like a kindergarten school on the first day of a new term. Kat murmured to Adam, who motioned to Michael, asking for quiet. Michael’s thunderous voice silenced the rest.

Adam spoke for Kat, after listening to her whispered instructions for a few moments. _”Kat has asked me to say that, while she will still help all she can, and learn what she must as fast as she can, now that these issues have come to a head, she’s sure you’ll all, Angels, Humans, Hunters, Alien Tekkies and all, give her the time she needs to adjust to this new diet and exercise regime. We, Kat and I, will still do our very best to assist and be around when we’re needed, but please, unless it’s vital, LEAVE HER OUT OF YOUR PETTY SQUABBLES. Your adults, Angels, for Christ’s sake, act your age, not your shoe size, as Kat’s mum would have said, and let her recover in peace. Thank you.”_

Taking Kat’s hand, HE used the Angel-made gadget and zapped them both to their flat, where he put Kat straight to bed before going online to order a delivery of high energy, highly nutritious food stuffs, and supplements, to be delivered that very day. He also, with online help, organised a daily regime of rest, exercise and energy rich foods and drinks to get Kat back to as robust a health as possible as fast as possible. In short, he spent the time she was sleeping making preparations to pamper and cosset her, to return her to full health as best he possibly could. Like she’d done, via the Archangels and his half-brothers, for him.

In the days that followed, Adam would make sure he was up before Kat, her health shake and muesli ready for her, coffee and laptop standing by. Once he heard her starting to fidget in bed, he wandered in, after knocking of course, and handed her shake in bed, along with any urgent news from the Bondees Chain, which he was having sent to his phone, direct. Once that was done, she had a shower, then breakfast. 

Adam always insisted they went out for a snack at eleven, and had a good, filling lunch. The afternoon was spent poring over artefacts, books, or doing the touristy things that they’d taken so little time for before. Adam also had a quiet word with Michael and Gabriel to organise a surprise for Kat’s birthday – it was only a few weeks away now, and he wanted THIS birthday, more than any other, to be special. After all, who knew if she’d even have another? With a gleam in his eyes, Gabriel, to Adam’s delight, took his initial idea, and ran, and ran, and ran, and ran. In fact, he ran so far with it, it bore as much resemblance to Adam’s original idea as a piece of coal does to a diamond.

Days drifted by, at a much slower pace than they’d been living at, to ensure that Kat’s recovery was an uninterrupted smooth incline, no bumps or set-backs to hinder her progress. Adam went off with Michael one day, leaving Kat in the tender care of Sam and Gabriel, Gabriel insisting Sam help him look after his ‘sister-in-law’ so she didn’t wander off the path of health and relaxation, much to Dean’s initial annoyance. Castiel dispelled his ire with a proposal for the two of them to spend the time alone together. 

Gabriel and Sam, at first unsure what Kat would want to do, found, to Sam’s absolute delight, that she was happy to show them around the outdoor markets and hidden side streets that had wonderfully enigmatic shops, selling things like Indian herbs, Chinese medicines and Authentic, antique objects d’art. In one such side street, Kat had found a shop she’d been longing to show Sam or Dean – it claimed to deal in ‘rare and valuable herbs, ingredients and spices’. When Kat had seen, behind the checkout, a drawer marked ‘Phoenix Ashes, Mermaid Tears and Dragon Scales’, she knew she had to get them there. 

Meantime, Adam was talking to Michael about his idea for Kat’s birthday. Gabriel had one part well in hand – almost too well, in fact. Michael, once Adam had explained why most humans celebrated birthdays, and his longing to give Kat something to remember this birthday by, no matter how many – or how few – more birthdays she had after. With some bargaining, and a few…. Well aimed barbs at some of the others, Adam and Michael came to an agreement on Adam’s idea, and they returned to Cardiff, finding Kat and Sam, with a grinning Gabriel, shoulder deep in candies and fresh produce from the farmers market Kat had taken them to – Sam delighted to have the chance to stock up on really fresh produce for a change, and Kat – with a smug grin at Adam – boxing a purchase from a farmhouse bakery stall, writing Dean’s name on it, and handing it to Sam.

After a few hours together – Adam and Sam doing some bonding after their time together in the cage – Gabriel took ‘his’ Sammy back home, and Michael went back to his Heavenly chores. With Gabriel’s having snapped all their purchases to the flat, Adam and Kat wandered slowly, hand in hand, back through the still light streets, pausing now and then to look at something, or watch some minor miracle of normal life that now eluded them.

Kat leaned back on Adam’s chest as they stood watching the day’s activities wind down and the night come alive with renewed vigour. Adam, his arms loosely around Kat’s waist, pressed a small kiss to her bleached blonde hair, its length blowing in the gentle breeze around them, swirling about in an ever shifting cloud of pale blonde wisps. Her fingers traced gently over the knuckles and veins of his hands and wrists as they stood, quietly observing the world going by.

The peace was shattered by a blaring siren, flashing red and blue lights careening round the corner towards them, a piercing shriek of a fire alarm a couple of streets away snapping them out of their daze. The sound was coming from the direction of their flat. Zapping them to the buildings grounds with the Angel device, Kat was horrified to see it was THEIR flat ablaze – with her cat and guinea pigs still inside. A fast prayer to Gabriel brought him in a flash, taking in the situation at a glance, and vanishing, to reappear an instant later with three, sooty, grimy animals in his arms.

Relief at their safety came first, rapidly followed by disbelief at the complete destruction of all their worldly goods, and swiftly superseded by the knowledge that they had nowhere to sleep that night. Adam prayed to Michael for guidance, he appeared in a few moments, Jack with him, and a plan to set up one of the rooms over the Tourist Information office as a home base for the two. The Torchwood team were called in to collect emergency supplies for the two people and three animals, as well as Owen to check all of them over for smoke inhalation – he groused that he was a Doctor not a vet, but saw to Eowyn, Gerard and Pippin anyway. 

In a matter of a couple of hours, with Angelic aid, the two were re-settled in their new, temporary, lodgings. While the Angels vanished the junk that had occupied the rooms, and installed the basics – beds, table, chairs, cupboards, etc. The Torchwood four – Jack, Ianto, Gwen and Tosh, made short work of rounding up supplies of foods, clothing, pet bedding and foods, and other assorted sundry items – like bedding and linen for Kat and Adam, who’d lost literally everything in the blaze. But what had caused it?


	7. Chapter 7

Sam and Dean visited, having been brought up to speed on the fire by the Archangels, and looked around the scene of the fire – hunter’s instincts ever present for possible supernatural signs at mystery happenings. Sigils in blood dried into the brickwork of the inglenook fireplace telling a tale of its own. Dean determined that it was most likely to be some brainless moronic demon – no thought for the fact that, if Kat – the only hope for the planet – didn’t survive, the world wouldn’t survive. No world – no Hell. No Hell – no Demons. Dumb bastard was as good as signing his own death warrant. He summoned Crowley, who agreed for a change and under took to see to its ….education. 

Crowley arrived on the doorstep the next afternoon, shocked to find himself unable to enter, he rang the bell, and Kat answered the door. _”Hello Darling, why can’t I come in? You’ve warded against me.”_ Kat was surprised to see Crowley on her stoop, but not so much she was going to kowtow to him. _”Crowley, you really need to ask? I thought you were meant to be smart. The last of your kind that visited our home, whether I knew it or not, burned it to the ground, and Adam and I lost everything we had. If it wasn’t for Gabriel, I’d even have lost my cat and guinea pigs. Why, then, would you be surprised that the Angels, and Adam’s family, warded against unwanted visitors? Now, if you don’t mind, Adam’s family are visiting, and I’m their hostess. Buy yourself a cell phone DARLING, if Castiel can manage one, I’m sure you can too, goodbye.”_ Having opened the door wide to show a full complement of Winchesters and their Angelic mates, all in various stages of laughter, Kat slammed the door and returned to her seat by Adam.

Sam, smirking broadly at her, spluttered _”Kat, did you really just sass the King of Hell about not having the smarts to figure out how to use a cell phone? So much for the timid teenager you used to be.”_ Kat just grinned lazily, reaching for a piece of treacle tart, retorting _”What? He needs me to save his arse , so I’ll talk to him how I like. You need me too, so watch your step, Winchester.”_

While Adam smiled at this exchange, he also watched Kat closely to see that she not getting worked up over it. Seeing her grinning cheekily at the look on Dean’s face, her having taken the last slice of pie, he relaxed. Castiel, looking slightly in the dark, pondered out loud if Kat was being mean about his managing, barely, to use a cell phone, and only understood when Kat explained that it had been sarcasm aimed directly at Crowley – his claims of being so clever when he’d not understood why the new Milligan – Hardy home had been demon proofed.

Dean, with a look of mild wonder on his face, discovered that, not only were ALL the pies and tarts homemade, but that both Adam and Kat cooked. It was something he only did when he had to – he could put together a reasonable breakfast, but not much else. Sam smirked as he watched the realisation dawn on his brother’s face that Adam and Kat could have fresh pie whenever the mood took either to make it. The Waldorf salad that had started the meal had pleasantly surprised Sam, and the Honey roasted vegetables that had accompanied the nut cutlets or lamb shanks were both pleasing and tasty, fulfilling the nutritional and taste elements required by that picky sweet-toothed Archangel, Gabriel, and Kat’s special diet.

One, short month later, Kat had the bright idea of getting EVERYONE to know everyone else, and started sending them off in twos or threes for various activities so they got to know one another better. It all started out well enough, with Owen and Michael, with Garth, spending time researching the origins of a distant constellation whose light and radiant energy would prove enough to run a small power plant if it could be harnessed safely.

Tosh and Sam, with a jealous Gabe in tow, spend a day in the library of ancient Greece – courtesy of Gabriel, of course – discovering all kinds of fascinating facts and figures that would prove useful in modern life. Dean and Inias, taking Ianto with them, went trawling through an ancient arms museum, the mechanisms taking Ianto’s fancy while Dean was more interested in the mass – firing weaponry of old, the simple, easy to make designs that could be hand crafted in an emergency situation. Inias merely went along and provided transport, explaining the details of how each was used in turn.

The real trouble came when Jack went with Zachariah to an intergalactic bar that Jack knew, one trying to get the other drunk. Jack hadn’t been drunk since he became immortal, and Angels unable, supposedly, to get drunk – let’s face it, it took Castiel an entire liquor store’s worth of alcohol to get smashed. They left Cardiff at ten in the morning, by four in the afternoon, Jack was completely blotto in the Hub’s lounge, and Zachariah, going on duty to watch over the Apostle, landed in the wrong place – namely a supermarket three streets away, loud and rude. 

Zachariah, finding himself facing the Cardiff Police, and placed under arrest for being drunk and disorderly. He used his phone call to contact Michael, who arrived in just a few minutes. Finding that he didn’t understand the routines or paperwork (or have the funds for the fines), he fetched Kat and Adam.

Kat, thoroughly pissed off with the Angel in question, was clearly un-impressed, and decidedly underwhelmed, to discover that, in order to have him released to her custody, not only would she have to undertake to house him, but there was a fine to be paid. With a quiet word to Michael about raising the limit on her credit card so she’d have enough on it to pay his bail, she signed off on all the forms, and took the still sozzled Angel home, where she had Michael silence him, and create a room for him to ‘sleep it off’ in. With a decidedly less than Christian attitude to him, settles herself down to watch some television.

Next day, with Zachariah and Jack both having mammoth hangovers – that Kat forbid the other Angels to cure, they needed to learn their lesson – Kat quizzed the two about how, and where, they got into that state in the first place, and what Zachariah planned to do to make amends for the considerable inconvenience he’d caused the Apostle and her mate. Jack filled them in on the bar he’d guided Zachariah to, and how, for the first time in its three hundred year history, it had had to close – they’d drunk it out of every form of liquor it had in stock.

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The next time Kat had to use her credit card, she had one hell of a surprise – Michael hadn’t just raised the limit on it, he’d completely removed it. Kat, a limitless credit card and a stress – induced headache in hand, went with Adam, manic grin on her face, and walked into the city centre, intent on letting off steam.

The first place they went was an electrical outfitters – new laptops, smartphones and games consoles were first on the agenda. Those ordered for delivery, she led the way to a bookstore, where copies of all the books that she’d lost in the fire were ordered – once again, delivery booked. On to the mall, and time to hit the clothes shops – Adam groaning with laughter as Kat went in for a feminine Sam Winchester look – all plaid blouses and jeans, band tees and a hoodie or two – she then set about refilling Adam’s own clothing supply – similar to her own, but with a tendency toward less plaid and more plain colours. On to footwear, and boots went side by side with sneakers and slippers. Good, deep tread on the boots to ensure the very best grip possible in all conditions.

From there, Kat went onto a herbalists, stocking up on every herb, spice or root compound she could think of that she might use in a spell or whatever. She took a small quantity of just about everything they had in stock. In a nearby pharmacy, she stocked up on all types of bandages, plasters, lotions and potions, pills, supplements and toiletries.

When she came out of there, Adam insisted they take a break, and get a snack – Kat was still not completely back to full health, and Adam was conscious of it, if Kat had a tendency to overlook it herself. Once Adam was satisfied she’d eaten and rested enough, it was on to an ironmongers for different pans, cauldrons and bowls – glass, copper, silver, gold, bronze, you name it, they got it all.

On to a jewellers, and in for some heavy duty spending, buying in large quantities of silver and gold, rosaries, and such like, before heading off to an occultists shop for bones, hoodoo and voodoo items, a set of spell books and some old style quills – real feathers made into ink refillable pens. With a satisfied smile, Kat turned to Adam, placed a kiss on his cheek, and said _”Get us now, Crowley you assbutt.”_ Adam, grinning, put an arm round her shoulders and nuzzled her forehead.

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Back at home, in the newly expanded (courtesy of Michael, as invoked by Zachariah’s placement in Kat’s residence), Kat got out her note books from her time with the Hunting team in America, comparing the spells and examples of cures, runes and curses in both American lore and Welsh, finding in some cases curious similarities, in others slight differences.

Kat got out some of her freshly purchased and delivered ingredients and began to work on an idea she’d had – to combine the spells involved in both Countries in summoning a badass big evil, to see if they could, successfully, be blended to produce one that would work for her in either place, thus reducing the amount she had to remember.

That’s when things went wrong – once more, courtesy of Zachariah, but also on account of Kat’s overtly secretive nature when it came to experimenting with what she’d learned. Just as she added the last, most powerful ingredient – one that only needed the merest hint of – Zachariah, actually using a door for a change, though without knocking, threw open the door behind Kat, smacking her in the back, knocking the vial of ground fulgurite out of her hand and upturning it over the bowl the rest of the spell was in. Kat, gasping as she finished her sentence, blurred the words a little. There was a loud crack of sound, then silence. 

Taking a deep breath, Kat closed her eyes tight before opening one a crack to look at Zachariah, waiting for the other shoe to drop. The wait was not lengthy. In fractions of a moment, Kat’s mobile phone was summoning her, as was the bondees’ chain – both insistent, both, she just knew, reporting the mother of all bad news. A sense of impending doom filled her as she reached for her phone.

Just as she answered the call from a very worked up Owen, she was transported, instantly, from her home in Cardiff to the Bunker in Lebanon, Kansas. In both places, as she expected, the situation was grim. In America, a knight of Hell – that Dean had already killed once – had arisen again and was on a killing spree, decimating towns and cities in her path. In Cardiff, an ancient God – that Jack had finished off – was walking the Earth and killing in droves. 

Both bore the same name – these were the ‘Badass Big Evils’ that Kat had attempted to mingle the summoning spells for. These were the two that, with Kat’s lack of foresight and Zachariah’s clumsiness, had been released on the planet once more. Both were named **ABADDON**


	8. Chapter 8

Dean, as often was the case, was the first to open his mouth. _”How the Hell is that bitch even drawing air again? I ganked her once – with the first blade, while I bore the mark of Cain – no way she should be up and around. She was iced but good – I even sliced and cemented the parts, just for good measure!”_ No-one, of all the bondees, had any answers. Looking to her feet, face as red as a beetroot, and voice smaller than an ants arsehole, Kat murmured that she – with the help of a door in the back thanks to Zachariah - might have had something to do with it. All eyes turned to her.

Michael – even voiced, calm and collected as ever – asked what she meant by ‘Thanks to Zachariah’. The answer brought an awful lot of angry words and disbelieving looks. Zachariah promptly turned it about on her, pointing out that, if she’d not been messing around with summoning spells to begin with, it could never have happened. 

Kat, while acceding the point, displayed – for the rest of them to see – a darkly purpling mark, right across the centre of her spine, from the right shoulder blade to the left hip. Gabriel laid a gentle hand on it, and it vanished, but the sight of it was still enough to have made the point – the door wasn’t just opened, it was forcefully thrown open, irrespective of who, or what, may have been on the other side. Sam pointed out that it was hardly the action of a caring, or careful, enforced guest – nor of a guardian. Zachariah cursed at the ‘maggot in plaid’ before being silenced by Lucifer.

Michael coughed to gain attention of all the assembled throng. _”Apostle, what you have done has released a disaster on this Earth, this cannot go unmarked. Punish you we will not – you are the Apostle, the hope for the world, it is not our place – but you will have closer guidance in your daily activities. Inias, Samandriel, from this day forth you will, each taking turns, be with the Apostle and her mate when they are outside of their sleeping chamber. AT ALL TIMES. Watch what she does, and summon aid if it appears that she is misguided in her actions, or what the results of them will be is unclear. Do not listen to explanations if your instinct tells you that the plans of the two are based on poor information or faulty reasoning – a superior will decide that.”_

Turning to the rest of the assembly, he continued _”While this has come about through an accident, the results will be catastrophic if direct action is not urgently taken. Apostle, Adam, remain here with Sam, Dean and the Angels – deal with the Knight of Hell, Abaddon – Dean no longer bears the first blade, but, between the powers of the Apostle, the forces of the Angels, and the Hunters, she can, with care, be brought down again. Lucifer, Gabriel, we go to Cardiff to deal with the Ancient God, Abaddon – he is the stealer of Life. Where-so-ever his shadow falls, the very life essence is sucked from the mortal’s therein. Together with the one known as Captain Harkness, we, the Archangels, can bring an end to the monstrous killing machine before he devours the whole of the country. We leave now. So long!”_ with the fluttering of wings, the three were gone.

Kat sat quietly down, leaning against Adam’s side on a sofa, and reviewed her rapidly collated, expansive library of curses, spells, and summoning’s. With a relieved sigh, she squeezed Adam’s hand, and announced that she needed to make a rather urgent supply run, Inias and Samandriel were immediately on their feet, ready to go along, Cas appeared before them, offering one of the fake credit cards the Winchesters had procured for him during one of his stints as a human. Kat refused outright – she’d never committed fraud yet, and had no intention of starting, thank you.

Zachariah was sent off to the Archangels to consult about this unusual problem. Gabriel had an answer. With a snap of his fingers, and a suggestive wiggle of his eyebrows, he conjured up, and sent Zachariah off to deliver, two brand new, very real, platinum credit cards in the names Mrs Kat, and Mr Adam Milligan – Hardy. When they saw the names on the cards Kat flushed deep red and Adam spluttered mutely, before hurriedly stowing them away in wallet and purse. Gabriel’s message – ‘Tell them I said to enjoy themselves’ – met with the slamming of a door as they all but ran from the room.

As the two, with their two guardians, moved as swiftly as they could to gather all the precious ingredients and accoutrements they’d need for what would be a VERY complex summoning ritual, they tried to relax one another with imagined scenarios from after it was all over, and their lives were once more their own – if they ever were. Kat spoke of the country cottage she wanted – a biggish garden to keep all her animals in and room to herself away from nosy neighbours.

Adam spoke of returning to college, maybe taking up journalism or teaching – or even being an author, after all, no story got wilder than his life the last few years. Inias and Samandriel stayed, for the most part, quiet. They’d no understanding, really, of choice or options, and had no wish to dispel the peace the two humans were building for themselves. They let them dream.

Once they got back to the Bunker, and into one of the newly cleared ante-rooms in the cellar, Kat once more closed her eyes and sat still and quiet – only Adam knew what she was doing. She was memorising, in intimate detail, the complicated sigils design that would have to etched, in exact detail, inside the hexagon in the centre of a room sized pentagram. Explaining EXACTLY what was needed, where and what way round, she had the hunters mark in the traditional pentagram in indelible ink.

Indelible ink because it had to be permanent – Abaddon would struggle, and chalk smudge, ruining all their hard work – and set the Angels about preparing, to the most strenuously exacting measure, precise amounts of all ingredients in strictly controlled ways. She and Adam, had, that morning, before anything had even happened, done something that was to have a dramatic effect on the outcome of the spell.

Once the hunters had finished their work on the monster devils trap, Kat began hers. Chanting under her breath in old, high Enochian that she barely understood, Kat paid scrupulous attention to every minute detail as she slowly slotted the sigils together – there were almost thirty in total, so she was more than pleased when Adam forced her to break and drink the hot spiced apple drink she favoured from Costa – the coffee shop chain. He also made her eat a cheese and English pickle toastie. Once finished she went back to her drawings.

Sitting wearily with Adam once the mammoth undertaking was complete, Kat took another, brief, break, and stood again, this time taking up the bronze chalice she was to combine the ingredients of the spell in. She’d never worked a more complicated recipe in her life – but, pretending she was making a really exotic cake, she began.

Chanting again, this time more audibly, she recounted the ingredients in Latin – the dead language feeling strange on her tongue. She called for the ‘Herb of vision good’, ‘headwear of a man of belief strong’, ‘green citrus blossoms’ and ‘herb for washing clean’. Sprinkling carefully measured amounts into the bottom of the vessel, she looked urgently to Zachariah, and requested a wing feather – the bigger the better – and shredded the reluctantly proffered flight feather into the mix.

Next, still muttering over her task, the Apostle called for the ‘tears of a virtuous man’, skin that had seen Hells Madness, hair of a prophet young, and grace willingly given. A pause came at that – who, of all the Angels present – was WILLING to give some of their grace? With precise, deliberate movements, Castiel removed his coat, rolled up his sleeve, and held his now bared arm to the young female conducting the proceedings. With a grateful smile, Kat held out the silver knife and a tiny glass vial, showing how much was needed.

Still not through with the list, the order fixed in her mind, the Apostle continued. Gold thread from the fates, iron pyrites from King Midas, a sign of true love, eternal and strong, grain blessed by the son of God, crumbs from a Hebrew flat bread, and purity from the sea. Calling on Adam, she murmured something to him, and they both, cutting open their palms, pressed their hands together, allowing their blood to mingle as it dribbled into the goblet. Finally, with her voice rising over a sudden roaring sound, she prepared to strike a match to ignite the blend.

That’s when things stopped following the plan, and took on a life of their own. The roaring sound was followed by a loud ‘pop’, and at once, beautiful blue green flames sprang from the challis – growing and morphing into the figure of a burning female, piercing screams emanating from the conflagration as it formed and reformed into the burning, twisting, but recognisable figure of Abaddon. 

The Angels and Hunters looked to the Apostle with wonder or bewilderment on their faces, Kevin looked like he might be sick, while Adam asked Kat if she had known that it would do that. She shook her head. A thought entered her mind, and a slow grin lit her face, Adam’s too as he caught the sudden, growing blaze of joy. _”It’s what we did this morning, isn’t it? That’s what made it so powerful. And to think, we did it to keep you safe.”_ Kat nodded, certain he was right in what he’d said.

Dean demanded to know what they were talking about. Adam explained. _”We figured that, with all the Angels and Demons and the like being so super protective of THEIR blood, there had to be something about it that meant it could be used against them. I was worried about Kat – with her, like me, being ‘only human’, it seemed a weakness we didn’t need to have. So this morning, long before any of this even started, Kat and I accepted, and injected into ourselves, a small measure of blood from the other. Now, that spell called for ‘one that is two’, so when we mixed our blood on its way to the challis, we were actually reinforcing a bond we’d already set in place before. Simple.”_

 _”Ingenious. A brilliantly simple yet effective trick.”_ was Sam’s response, Dean just nodding while looking faintly disgusted. Zachariah demanded to know what his feather had been needed for. Kat smiled grimly _”Simple, genius. The spell needed a measure of ‘determined belief, hard-headed and deceitful’. Given your treatment of Adam and Dean during the failed Apocalypse, you seemed the most logical, readily available source. And after all, nothing shows an Angels determination like surrendering one of their feathers, does it?”_

Outright laughter greeted this latest poke at Zachariah’s low opinion of, and poor attitude towards, the Humans that his Father had left he and his siblings to love and care for. Zachariah just snorted and disappeared. Kat asked for an update on the situation in Wales – the news, when Samandriel got back with it, was far from encouraging. With a weary sigh, Kat once more raced through her mental archives for help. An image of a recently found and catalogued item in the Hub’s subterranean levels came to mind, and she demanded a lift back there. 

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Once they arrived at the Torchwood Hub, Kat, taking Adam with her, and murmuring explanations the whole way, scurried off into the depths of the basement archives. Going direct to the correct room, the aisle, row, shelf and box, Kat reached cautiously in and lifted an object about the size of an IPod, but weighing a good deal more, and gingerly placed it on the ground in front of her. Running her hands through her hair in a gesture of stress, she put one back on the device and a slow, almost peaceful grin spread across her face.

Nodding to herself, she hugged Adam tight and summoned Inias, one of her two Angelic watchdogs, and explained to him what she sought to do to resolve the situation she had, unwittingly, created there. Inias, after listening carefully, was unsatisfied of its safety for the Apostle, but fully convinced that it would rid the world of Abaddon once and for all. He took himself off to commune with the Archangels.

Returning, and finding that Adam was STILL angry with the amount of danger that the Apostle would knowingly be placing herself in, if this plan was given the go-ahead. Inias was not alone, though, when he returned – he had Michael with him, and Michael wasn’t convinced of the plan’s validity or sanity.

Kat’s idea, if you could call it that and not suicide mission, would be to zap in with her Angelic device, and using her newly discovered mutant powers levitate this device – a far more potent explosive than had been used on their alien abductors – and activate it once it was in the very mouth of Abaddon itself. The plan had some merits – activating it at that late stage would ensure that it couldn’t detonate early and wipe out Cardiff itself, nor could Abaddon spit it out as it had options for length of time between ignition and explosion – it could be near instant. 

It also had some hefty minuses – Kat’s proximity to ‘The Great Devourer’ for one, the possibility that the device wouldn’t work to get her away before the blast another – you had to allow for the fact that this was an Ancient God you were dealing with, its pagan powers may well interfere with Angelic technology. Adam stormed back to the board room, summoning the rest of the bondees chain on the way, so by the time he got there, so was everyone bar Lucifer and Gabriel.

Adam, as calmly as he could, explained Kat’s idea and theory – the destruction of the being ‘Abaddon’ by an Alien munition, controlled by her own mutant abilities. The pain and anger he felt was apparent in his voice. Dean, predictably, refused outright to countenance such an idea – the mere thought of a ‘kid’ making a sacrifice repellent to him. Sam, having himself leapt into Hells cage to stop the destruction of the planet once, was more willing to be persuaded, while Kevin, that ‘Prophet of the Lord’ millstone leaving him understanding of Kat’s plight, shrugged and refused to judge either way.

It was interesting to see the Angels expressions – usually either bland, curious or infuriated, this time puzzled, shaken, or decidedly against the proposal, had an array of seldom before seen emotions on their vessels faces. Castiel’s was, perhaps, the most telling of all. He stood and paced, his expression unset, as though running through too many emotions, at a rate to rapid for a mortal to decode them. He spun on his feet to face her.

 _”Apostle, you humans continually amaze me. Ceaselessly creating havoc and danger for yourselves, yet selflessly coming up with incredible, immensely self-sacrificial remedies. Sam and Dean are just the same, but you, you’re but a youth, and have an impossibly important role in the future of the planet – I cannot agree to this plan.”_

Tosh’s computer lit up with a live feed from Professor Xavier – he and his Mutant Academy might just have the answer. Charles explained that, with Kat’s approval and co-operation, he and Nightcrawler could assist with the plan-at-hand. He, Charles, would plug himself into Kat and Kurt's minds, allowing Kat to send telepathic messages from the safety of the Hub to the device in Kurt’s hands, he would use his abilities to appear and disappear from the danger zone – Kurt had already agreed to the plan. Kat, face with puppy eyes from Sam, Adam and Kevin, and nodded approval from the Angels, had little option but to agree too.

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Charles and Nightcrawler arrived – via Angel Air – at the Hub just a couple of hours later. The blue-skinned mutant was a stranger, yet willing to risk his life to spare a risk to her own, and Kat couldn’t help but wonder why. It wasn’t a mystery for long – Nightcrawler – aka Kurt Wagner – was humble, guilt racked, and had as strong a faith as Kat had ever witnessed, in anyone. Just talking to him gave her a feeling that, given her appointed role, nothing would trouble him too much if it were for her – it made her pause to think.

Charles, meantime, was going over the idea, planning a little more in depth, with Adam and Inias, when Kat and Kurt began to take an interest in the conversation. Kat wanted to know how it would work – she’d no desire for one of them, never mind both, to be poking around inside her brain – the thought gave her the creeps. Charles smiled reassuringly and spoke soothingly. _” Kat, if there’s something you don’t want me to look at, or some place you’d rather I don’t go, just imagine a door, and put a no entry sign on it, I promise I won’t go in._ Kat gave a relieved sigh, and nodded.

That afternoon, while it was still, just, daylight, Kat took a hold on the device with one hand, and Charles’s hand with the other. Charles, placing his hand on Kurt’s temple, created a link between the two minds, and so long as Kat held on to Charles, she could reach Kurt – and the device itself. Kurt, taken to within sight of the epic battle by Samandriel, teleported himself into harm’s way.

Instantly, all three linked minds were assaulted by the power of the entity known as Abaddon, and Kat fought to force her will into the programming of the object Kurt now held. Slowly, through Kurt’s eyes and Charles’s mind, Kat watched it elevate into the mouth of the beast, once there, she initiated immediate destruction, and communicated for all to leave at once. Looking back from the other side of the wasteland they’d been battling on, there was an explosive bang, fur, blood and guts flew everywhere. A foul smelling smoke belched across the field, and when it cleared, a wash of blood and ash was all that remained of the once mighty foe. They returned to the Hub to check in for injuries.

When they got back – to a heroes reception – Kat was already anxiously awaiting with a first aid kit and stiff drinks. She’d known – through the link with Charles, therefore Kurt, and to the Archangels – that Kurt and Jack were both singed and had inhaled some smoke, while the Archangels and Jack were low on ‘Immortal Spirit’ and needed rest. Kat, reading the links to all, including a reading of Jack through the views of an Archangel, had the rest of the teams set up and ready to triage and treat.


	9. Chapter 9

Adam, meanwhile, was still working hard, behind Kat’s back, to pull off a ‘Birthday to Remember’ for the young Apostle. He’d been in touch with his brothers, Kevin, and spoke on the qt to the Torchwood team – it would need everyone working together to do what he wanted to. He’d even had Balthazar pay a polite visit to her family in Devon. Things were going well.

There was just one week to go before the big day, and Adam was anxiously going over the plans with Gabriel and Michael in a café not far from the Hub, when he got a call from Sam telling him that Kat had just called asking questions about what Adam was up to. They’d not told, but she was aware that something was going on behind her back. With a sigh, and a word of thanks, Adam turned his mind to a diversionary story for Kat. He grinned when he remembered something that Kat had been after him to do for weeks – a sure fire success of a cover story. 

Adam arrived back at the hub with a bag of assorted tools and bits and pieces, the kind of stuff used in DIY and household repairs. Kat, with a puzzled look, asked where he’d been – Adam ‘confessed’ that she’d caught him buying the necessary items to fix up the taps and cupboards in their temporary home. A fond smile and a ruffling of his hair told him she bought the story. 

The day of Kat’s birthday dawned dry and bright, but not as she had expected. Instead of waking in her own bed, in her room, with Adam in his bed and the Angel on duty in the living room, she opened her eyes to find orange skies above her, blue grass beneath her, alien smells and sights all around, unfamiliar sounds filled her ears as she sat up and stretched. She found herself wearing comfortable Jeggings, an MCR tee, and one of Adam’s jumpers. Her sneaker boots were on her feet.

As she woke up more, she became aware that she wasn’t alone – not nearly. Not only was Adam there, but so were her family, his family, all the Angels, Garth, Charlie, Charles Xavier, Kurt Wagner, and all the Torchwood team and Kevin. Charlie and Kevin were exchanging stories over how they’d baffled the Winchester brothers, or the Angels, with gaming references and computer terminology. Kat blinked, rubbed her eyes, and blinked again, certain she was either dreaming or insane. When they were still there, despite pinching herself, she had to concede that she had no clue as to what was going on.

That’s when Adam, with a gentle smile, placed a kiss on her forehead, asked her to sit down, and wished her a Happy Birthday. Poor Kat had been so busy she’d lost track of the date and didn’t even know it WAS her birthday that day. Sitting, propped against a large tree, Adam wandered off briefly, only to wander back with a large parcel in his arms. Placing it carefully on her lap, he told Kat to be careful as she opened it. Nervously, she tore off the wrapping.

Inside was a triple decker cage – plastic walls and a mesh door in the roof – inside was a number of small, furry bodies scurrying around. Kat let out a small cry, squee-ing as she saw what they were. _”Dwarf Hamsters! You got me dwarf hamsters! How did you know I adore them? But however many are there? They’re so adorable. I love them, Adam, and I love you.”_

Adam grinned as he admitted to having eight males in there – he’d thought she might want something to remember the Angels by after her task was over. Kat looked more closely into the cage, calling to the Angels to gather round and meet themselves. The baffled Host assembled around her as bid. Kat picked each dwarf up individually, naming them and handing them on to their namesake.

 _”This one is Michael –standing on his brother’s head and reaching for the top? Has to be._ placing the small animal into Michael’s hand, she watched the dusty grey/brown animal as it made its way up his arm and climbed into his hair.

She picked up another, the one Michael had stood on. _”Lucifer, I think, Albino, and mistreated by his brother. Here you go, Luci.”_ She put the small white hamster onto Lucifer’s hand, where he watched, fascinated, as it looked him over with its pink eyes before scurrying up his sleeve to explore his chest beneath his shirt.

Taking a gentle grip on another, she lifted it from the tank, nuzzling it to her as she pronounced it Castiel. Putting it in the Angel’s hand, she watched the Seraph eye the brown hamster with its black eye patch mark. The Angel seemed unsure what to do when his namesake began to nibble on the cuff of his coat sleeve.

 _”Gabriel”_ pronounced Kat, selecting a honey brown one and plopping it into the former tricksters hands. As it explored the Archangel’s vestments, he shouted in surprised annoyance – the furry little body had just found his pocket stash of candy. Kat giggled in response.

A shy one caught her eye, hiding in a corner, trying not to be seen, she scooped it tenderly up brushing down its soft sandy fur, and looked at it, smiling as the ideal name came to mind. _”Samandriel, what are you hiding for? No-one’s going to hurt you.”_ with gentle hands, she placed him in the young Angel’s care, watching as it gingerly explored the hand it was on.

Another timid one caught her attention, this one pure black in colour, its eyes sparkling like beads in the strange light on this alien world. _”Inias, come here sweetheart. Aw, you’re just so cute!”_ the hamster blinked at her from the Angel’s hands before curling up and having a wash.

A mottled grey dwarf sat on its haunches and eyed her, almost as if demanding attention for itself. Lifting it out, she plunked it into an already occupied hand, naming it Balthazar. It immediately tried to climb into the wineglass his namesake gripped in his fingers. Kat sharply told the Angel not to let it have any ‘big Balthazar, yes – little Balthazar, no’.

Scooping up the last of the hamsters, she promptly screwed up her face, announcing _”Yup, definitely Zachariah. Shit in the hand that’s going to feed you, OW! son of a bitch! And bite them too!”_ Kat plonked the small, dusty grey hamster on Zachariah’s hand, only then noticing the jet black underbelly he had. Zachariah also grimaced when he was bitten and crapped on. Laughter echoed around the stand of trees in response to this.

Lucifer, chuckling with a hamster under his shirt, scurrying about and tickling him, snapped his fingers and a breakfast fit for a (vegetarian) Queen appeared on the grass, on a number of beautiful rugs before them all. The hamsters were put back in their cage, and hand wipes were willed into appearance. There was so much choice of food, that no-one was disappointed. 

The morning, or what was left of it – Kat had woken rather late in the day – was spent exploring this strange new land. A shining Golden city, encased in its own sphere, glowed in the distance, the blue grass and orange sky were brilliant shades, never seen on Earth. The cool depths of the stream they were beside was both refreshing and purer than salt from the Antarctic. Amazing animals and plants grew there. Time ran away from them as they explored on.

By the time they were getting hungry again – in some peoples cases that was permanently – there had been a familiar-to-some grating trumpeting sound, a gusting breeze, and a large blue box appeared out of nowhere – Jack’s face lit up with incandescent joy when the doors were thrown open and a thin male figure in a brown pinstripe suit emerged, large white box, carefully held in his hands, cheery grin nearly cracking his face open.

 _”Hello! Oh, good to see you again Michael, glad you found the place alright. Jack! How you doing mate? What you been up to? It’s been a long time. Castiel, did you sort things out with that Earthling yet? I told you you needed to tell him how you felt! “_ He carried on, speaking to everyone in turn – even when Dean and Charlie turned into massive fan girls, Sam too to a lesser degree.

Then it Was Kat’s turn. The stranger in the suit - and a coat similar to Cas’s – grinned happily, before saying _”Hey, so, I hear there’s a birthday girl here? Can she make herself known? Only, I’d quiet like to put this thing down, and it’s kind of hers.”_ Adam smirked as he pointed to where Kat was sat on a blanket, actually relaxing for a change. The man strolled over and placed the box delicately in front of her. _” Right, here, careful how you open it.”_ Grinning all over his face, he backed away. Kat opened the large, cube shaped box, finding that the top and sides collapsed, it opened to reveal a detailed replica of Planet Earth – made of cake.

A gasp rang around the assembled humans – the cake was amazing. Kat was stunned. What was this man –DR. WHO, FROM TELEVISION doing bringing her cake? Did this mean they were on Gallifrey, the Dr’s home planet? A strange sense of calm and peace came over her as she realised the efforts that everyone had made, just for her.

Once they’d eaten again, and the cake had been cut, Kat’s family started off the present giving. Her parents gave her a filled family photo album, her sisters toiletries and candies. Then came the first gifts from her new friends, the ones she’d made since becoming ‘The Apostle’ all those months ago.

Sam stepped forward, gave her a hug, and a brown paper wrapped Silver pen knife, Dean tossed across a newspaper wrapped silver hip flask. Kevin gave, with a hug and a blush, some gold ‘dog tags’ – military style name tags, worn around the neck – these had her name and title in Enochian on them. Gwen had a beautifully wrapped cashmere sweater, while Tosh gave her a Hub compatible, 84 gig laptop with all the safety and apps Tosh could add to it. Garth, as well as a huge hug, gave her a rosary made from wood ALEDGEDLY from Noah’s Ark (Gabriel later confirmed this).

Ianto, fastidious as always, gave her a new coffee maker, so she could have decent coffee when she wasn’t with them any longer. Owen just gave her a bottle of White Rum – he’d noticed she had a liking for it. Jack, meanwhile, had seen how often she returned to handle one, specific artefact in the Archives – of unknown origin or purpose before Kat had analysed it, it was actually Endorian musical instrument. Kat was the only one that had figured out how to get a tune from it, and with a little more practice, she’d be brilliant – she was already pretty good – and Jack gave that to her – much to the astonishment of the of his staff.

Charlie gave – perhaps unsurprisingly – a complete outfit for cosplaying as Castiel (someone she just KNEW Kat would get a kick out of mimicking.) Charles Xavier had brought her own version of the uniforms the X-Men wear when they go to battle. Then Kurt stepped forward, in his hand a single white rose. _”For purity. And Luck.”_ he said, placing the bloom in her hand and a kiss on her cheek. Adam stepped forward, taking them all by surprise, but none more so than Kat. With dawning wonder on her face, she watched as he spoke.

 _”Kat, I know we’ve not known one another long, and that the time we’ve had together hasn’t exactly been the nicest, but I believe that we’re meant to be together – forever. So, whatever the future brings, I want – I’d like – to spend it with you. So Kat, my darling, Will you…..would you do me the honour of …..Marrying me?”_ As he stumbled through the question, he sank to one knee, pulling a ring box from his pocket, a silver band mounted with seven, semi-precious stones in it. The stones, A diamond, an emerald, an amethyst, a ruby, an emerald, a sapphire, and a tourmaline, spelt out, with their initials, the word ‘D.E.A.R.E.S.T.’ 

Kat, taken aback, but nodding wildly, all but floored him as she leapt onto him in a hug that left him breathless. While everyone clapped and cheered, the Angels conspired – a murmured conversation that was too quiet for the Humans to detect. Michael coughed. He proposed that, if all were willing, the wedding be the next week, and he, Archangel Michael, would take the ceremony. A stunned silence was their only response.


	10. Chapter 10

Back in America, with Abaddon out of the way again, The Winchesters had turned their attention to signs that Kevin had noticed in the papers – signs that maybe no-one else saw as a pattern because it was on such a wide spread view. Indeed, even he disbelieved his intuition at first – it seemed too ridiculous to consider. After all, who would seriously believe that happenings in Detroit – USA, Glasgow – Scotland, Wellington – New Zealand, Nairobi - Kenya, and Osaka - Japan, would be connected in a threat to the planet from outside their own Atmosphere – even if it did seem to be with the connivance of a species from nearer to home.

Kevin called Kat and Adam, informing the Angels once Kat and Adam were safely on their way back to the Bunker. It seemed, so Kevin had noted in the International Press, that strange coincidences were occurring in those five towns and cities, around the world. On consecutive days, a power supplier of some nature had been blown apart, industrial areas had been contaminated with various toxic pollutants, and plagues of ailments were starting to appear. Meteor showers were appearing on an unprecedented scale. The two bases, collaborating and pooling information, saw a pattern that threatened mass mutation on a world wide scale if things couldn’t be contained. 

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Kat began getting severe headaches and nightmares about different places around the world. She’d no idea why. First, she had a dream of an epidemic of swine flu, wiping out swathes of the Detroit suburbs in America. Then, it was the bubonic plague in Glasgow, Scotland. A pandemic of meningitis in Wellington, New Zealand was followed by a killer epidemic of measles in Nairobi, Kenya, ending with a rapid spread of a new strain of Polio in Osaka, Japan. At least, she hoped that was the end. It was one city from every continent, after all.   
The headaches and nightmares ceased, five days after they’d arrived. Kat wondered at the timings—one per night, per continent. Did it mean something? She called Kevin when a nagging feeling wouldn’t let go of her fears. Kevin confirmed it—in each and every case, the city Kat had dreamed of had been struck with the very illness she’d envisaged. A cold wash of dread crept over her and it was with trepidation she went to bed that night. On the sixth day, the first without a nightmare since she’d dreamed of Detroit on Thursday night and for once she wasn’t quite as depressed as she’d been the last few days. For a while, anyway. Mid afternoon saw Kat in the bathroom of the hub—hey, even apostles need to take a leak, right—when something happened, and she didn’t know how to explain it…

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Adam begins to notice a strange new behaviour in his fiancé – every now and then, no matter what she was doing, she’d stop dead, her head tilted to the left, expression blank and face pale. It lasts only a few moments at a time, but often enough for him to call out the Angels on their failure to notice this change in their ‘Apostle’s’ behaviour. Castiel tries to diagnose it, as he did with Sam when he was soulless. 

During his questioning of her, Kat explained that she’s ‘far away, somewhere else’, in another person’s mind, it’s always unpleasant, and seems to always revolve around that person dying in some freak, terrifying way. The first time, it happened when she was alone in the bathroom – she’d just come out of the loo and the door was still locked. Suddenly, she was aware of intense heat, and a wall of fire before her, a deep chasm caused by a fallen outside wall in a multi-story building she was high up in.

In terror she glanced behind her and down – a long way down, maybe twenty stories – to the crushed cars and rubble of the street below. On either side of her were badly cracked walls and steel girders of the very skeleton of the building itself. The inferno roared and leapt higher as it claimed more ground, edging ever closer. She screamed in terror and pain as she felt her skin begin to overheat without touching flames.

The fire grew in intensity, temperature soaring higher and higher, Kat’s skin beginning to bubble and peel, splitting and cooking as the air around her took on all the elements of being in a kiln, she was choking on the acrid, black smoke – lungs filling with chemical laden air so thick it could almost be sliced. She took a teetering step toward the mighty drop behind her as fire greedily gobbled up the plush carpeting she stood on, choking on the toxic fumes it’s burning generated.

Light-headed and dizzy, she struggled for air in the asphyxiating atmosphere, stumbling blindly to her knees as a beam came crashing down from a floor above her, crushing the wall to her left and incinerating the computer desk she’d been working at only moments before. Seconds later, she slipped from consciousness just as the flames began to eat its way up her trouser suit. 

She’d become aware of Adam’s hammering on the bathroom door, yelling her name and threatening to break it down if she didn’t answer him. Shakily, she’d opened the door and fallen into his arms, trembling and sweating profusely from the shock and residual temperature. Like a child after a nightmare, she’d clung to Adam – he’d been the one thing that made sense in a world suddenly gone insane. 

The second time, she’d been with Adam in the depths of Torch wood's Archive – one of the deeper tunnels, built when Victoria was on the Throne, and stocked with some of the very first acquisitions Torchwood still had – an awful lot were destroyed in the battle of Canary Wharf, Torchwood One, as it was. One moment she’d been analysing a radiation spectrometer from a distant world, the next she was in a different underground compound – very different.

She knew – somehow – that she was in a Nuclear Reactor, and that something was seriously wrong. Sirens blared and red lights glowed along corridor walls, an electronic voice could be heard, indistinctly, under the sound of the sirens, people were rushing – in an orderly fashion – this way and that, frantically working to fix the problem and escape otherwise certain death. 

A feeling of calm spread over her as she knew, in her bones, that her time was up. Taking up a pair of protective mittens and a heavy, lead lined apron, Kat pushed her colleagues out the door and locked it before entering a chamber at the heart of the building. Something told her that this is what had to be done to save lives – even if not her own. Leaving a fast message on video log, she made her way, calmly and determinedly, into the central control chamber.

With a speed and dexterity that she hadn’t known she possessed, she typed an instruction into the mainframe computer. Overriding all safeties, and sending the superheated, radio-active material into the very chamber she was in. She knew it was her last action, and as the radiation started to filter into the room, slowly dissolving her body and leaving nothing behind – not even able to be safely handled for thousands of years, she sang her favourite song to herself, and watched herself begin to fall apart.

Adam, once more, was the one to pull her out, shaking her and demanding to know if she was okay. Again, Kat fell into his arms, tears streaking her cheeks, and sobbed silently into his shoulder, Adam, bewildered, but holding her close and whispering words of meaningless comfort.


	11. Chapter 11

The Rest of the day was spent with Adam fussing over Kat, who was still fairly shaken over the experience of living someone else’s death – for the second time in as many days. The knowledge that the woman had deliberately given her life in an attempt to save others no comfort for the agonisingly slow decay and burning that she’d gone through with the brave woman. Kat’s heart felt like it was breaking, and Adam was at a loss to know what to do to help her.

With Kat and Adam apparently ‘hiding’ down the Archives, when a call came in, Jack left them behind – if they were content with just the two of them, far be it from him to spoil their alone time and put them back into danger again. Cockily, Jack left, taking the whole of the Torchwood team with him. When Kat and Adam needed help, they had to call in the Angels – who were not pleased with the seeming lack of care being bestowed on the Apostle and her mate. Heavenly Wrath awaited Jack back at the Hub if he had but known.

A set of shelves had, somehow, managed to topple over, causing a domino effect, trapping the two in the depths of the Hub’s tunnels, and injuring both. Kat had broken her leg – one of the full shelf units had knocked her into a wall, pinning her there, while Adam had been crushed between the falling units – laid out on one while another two pressed down on him. Broken ribs and severe bruising were the least of his problems.

When Jack and his crew finally got back – the Ayurveda warrior not the easiest of beings to track and capture – the Host were in the Hub, and the Apostle and her boyfriend were in the medical bay, being ‘fixed up’ – so as to say – by gentle Samandriel. Michael, angered by this carelessness that had once more seen a lack of respect and protection shown to the one hope for the planet, was full of righteous indignation at this latest calamity to befall the youths in Jacks charge. 

The words of the Archangel rang through the vaulted ceilings of the main chamber, echoing down the tunnels and ringing in the storage rooms – Heaven’s mightiest warrior was pissed, and Jack was his primary target. Tosh, and Gwen exchanged looks and gulped while Owen smirked to himself and Ianto disappeared to make a round of ‘proper’ coffee. 

Kat and Adam, struggling out of the med centre where they’d refused to let Samandriel completely heal them, stopped in the entrance to the lounge, and asked Michael to tone it down – they’d headaches and his volume wasn’t exactly helping. Lucifer gaped when he not only reduced his volume but also cut the lecture short.

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That afternoon, after Adam had settled Kat in an easy chair in the lounge with a coffee, he pondered what was causing her to live the death of such very different strangers, so far away, in such great detail. When Kat was ready, he took her back to the archives, to a different room, and they started again. Kat’s face lit up with mischief when she held one of them.

_”Adam, it’s a Situation Projector. You know the simulation rooms they have in films like X-Men – The Last Stand? Well, this thing is like one of those, but in a sphere. It literally plays out whatever situation the one programming it sets – reacting to all actions according to the parameters set. Want to have some fun with the others? I think another test could be in order, don’t you? A smile spreading over his face, Adam nodded – the sphere began to spin and change colour as Kat set it to work._

_Minutes later, a panicked Adam came racing from the tunnels as if the hounds of Hell were on his heels, a frantic look on his face and a tremble in his voice as he yelled for help. The Torchwood team looked up from their stations, hands going for guns. _”Quickly, you’ve got to help her! She was analysing one of your infernal devices when it started to act funny, glowing and spinning, before lifting to attach itself to her neck. Then she started to mutter about world-wide destruction and the wrath of the Titans.”__

__”It WHAT?”_ yelled Owen, _”The Titans? I thought they were just a myth.”_ Said Tosh. Gwen cursed volubly while Jack strode forward, take charge attitude coming to the fore as he went to find the seeming trouble-magnet that was the Apostle. He found her, doubled over and clutching the orb, which was on the nape of her neck, in both hands. She made a fairly desperate picture, still mumbling unintelligibly to herself as she rocked back and forth. _

_Adam was yelling for the ‘damned feathered asshats’ to get their ‘winged trouble-causing butts’ over there, and bring the rest of ‘Team Free-Earth’ too. The room filled with the sound of wings and curses as eight Angels and three startled men arrived in the room. Dean was the first one whose cursing made sense. _”Damnit Cas, what have I said about warning me before you do that!”_ Gabriel was more to the point _”Where’s the Apostle? What’s happened to her? I swear to Dad if you guys don’t start taking better care of her I’ll turn you all to bird food.”_ he promptly snapped up a candy bar and chewed on it furiously. _

_The rest of the newly arrived group, once the Humans had regained their balance, looked around for the teenager in question. Adam spoke up. _”I don’t know what’s happening guys. One moment she was holding this damned artefact of theirs, the next it was spinning and changing colours, then it stuck itself to her neck and she was muttering about the end of the world and revenge of the Titans. Now she’s doubled over, can’t get the thing off, in pain and it’s still stuck to her. I don’t know how to help her.”_ Cursing came from all the humans, while incredulity was rife amongst the host. _

_Michael spoke for them _”The Titans? They are long since gone. My Father saw to their demise aeons ago. This device cannot be of their design. Take me to her, I must see it for myself.”_ Adam lead the way to where Jack was now on his knees before Kat, attempting to wrest the device from her skin, her cries of pain going unheeded. _”HUMAN! DESIST! How dare you harm the Apostle. She was left in your care, not for you to torment her. Move away or suffer the consequences.”_ _

_Jack, with bad grace, did as ordered. Kat breathed a sigh of relief as the pulling on the globe ended – it was enough of a pain in the neck without Jack being one as well. _”Michael, GET THIS DAMNED THING OFF ME! It hurts, why should I agree to analyse any more of their crap when this is what happens when I do? Fuck you and your ‘Apostleship’ if you don’t release me!”_ Michael, waving a hand before her face, calming her down, then lay a hand also on the device, a startled frown creasing his brows at that he found._

_Kat didn’t like the look on the Archangels face when he backed away from her, she’d learned early on in her acquaintance with them that if they showed any notable reaction it generally spelt trouble, and Michael’s was a bit more than just ‘notable’. She demanded to know what he’d learned, and what he said wasn’t what she’d expected._

_Kat had expected Michael to rumble her little game when he touched the ball of alien metal, instead, he repeated, almost verbatim, what she and Adam had said – the end of the world, the Titans, blah, blah. Spooked, she started to tremble as a panic attack began to creep over her. Adam, sensing this, crouched down on the other side of her, and wrapped his arms protectively about her. Michael snapped to attention and stared hard at the orb, before disappearing in the blinking of an eye._

__”Damn Angels”_ came a familiar, gruff voice from behind the two, and Dean came into view, Sam close behind him, followed by Kevin, sinking down to face the two youths from the same level they were at. Sam, grinning wryly, said _”What are you Kat, hard wired to find trouble or something? You get more and more like a Winchester every day.”_ Kat winked at Adam, and said _”Meh, I’ll kind of be one when Adam and I get hitched.”_ Adam pressed a kiss to the side of her head and smiled. _

_While the three brothers are sat with Kat, Kevin with them too, the Torchwood team frantically searching online for something to help while the Angels disappeared who knows where, Adam suddenly thinks of something that Kat’s analysed in the last few days and asks her about it. She, pain still playing over her neck and shoulders, retorts that she can’t think about it at present, someone else will have to. Ianto checks the most recent inventory._

_With a dignified call of triumph, Ianto drew attention to the success of Adam’s recall. In Archive sixteen, row fifty six, box D, the very thing was located. A Blastogrecian Erasior – a large, device, about the size of Kat’s forearm, that looked something like a cross between a mole wrench and a floor mop, it worked by forcing the release of any other device or erasing errors made in the mechanics of all KNOWN objects._

_Ianto brought it to Adam, and Gabriel, holding Kat’s other hand, assisted in attaching it to the orb. With a clunk and a final flare of vivid green, it came away and fell to the floor. With a relieved sigh, Kat straightened up and stretched. _”Thank fuck THAT’S off. Sheesh I was getting freaking stiff. God-darned Alien crap. I ought to charge danger money for doing this shit.”_ Kat was always elegant in her speech when stressed or hurt - and at present she was both. _

_Dean stood and poked the ball with his toes, watching it roll across the floor and collide with Sam’s gigantor sized butt, before rolling back toward his sister-in-law-to-be. Dean went to shove his foot between the two, and the globe of metal just rolled over his foot like it wasn’t there. Dean swore, Adam made a dive for the sphere, and Sam flung his whole body sideways into the path of the thing, only to also be rolled over._

_It was almost as if it was magnetised onto Kat. The Apostle yelled for the other Angels, who appeared with a flutter of wings. Dean, Sam, Adam and Kevin demonstrated the devices seeming determination to re-join with Kat - who looked really spooked by this time, and not a little pissed too. What had been meant to be a bit of fun had wound up scaring the living spit out of her instead. The Angels looked to one another in intensive, silent, communication. Lucifer reached out a hand and took hold of the device, departing for the deepest realms of Hell._

_It re-appeared at Kat’s side before Lucifer was back. Michael tried putting it in Heaven’s most strongly defended jail – only for it to arrive again before he returned. Nowhere that the Host – or anyone else – tried putting the thing kept it away from Kat for long. With a defeated air, Kat accepted that the damned ball was destined to travel with her – she took to wearing a bumbag – aka fannypack – to put the wretched thing into. She also kept the Blastogrecian Erasior in there, lest the damned piece of Alien junk decide to play up again._

_Once the Hunters, and Kevin had been returned – with warning this time – to their home, the Hub settled down to its normal, quietish thrum of steady activity. Dr Owen was taking the Micky out of the girls while examining Alien samples, Tosh was bantering back at Owen and re-upgrading all the Hubs software, Gwen made detailed reports of all known incidents and interfaced with Cardiff Police, Ianto tidied up and Jack was being his usual stoic, mysterious and enigmatic self. Kat and Adam, with the damned orb in tow, left to seek distraction in the city centre._

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_In her sleep that night, Kat realised that the Projector – the Alien device she and Adam had been operating the day before – hadn’t malfunctioned at all, it was just responding to programming. It was programmed to react to stimuli in accordance with the situation given by its programmer. Its programmer – herself – had set parameters fairly loosely, only detailed enough to draw everyone together once more , so when faced with an action that didn’t actually HAVE a set response, it had to respond to the best of its abilities, it’s logic circuits taking control and making decisions based on the information at hand. That’s why it had attached itself to her, and why it threatened to go off early if tampered with. Smiling softly in her sleep, she turned over and snuggled into the pillows._

_Next morning, when she woke, she told Adam what she’d worked out overnight, his agreement sealed the deal so far as the two were concerned. After a breakfast in a bay side café, they made their way to the Hub, for once going down on the lift from in front of the water tower. Kat smirked and cat-called some passing strangers, knowing they’d not see her._

_Almost as soon as the lift arrived at the bottom and they stepped off, Kat’s head slid sideways onto her left shoulder, and her face cleared of colour and expression – Adam yelled for help, they’d have to carry her to the couch in the seating area. The day was off to a flying start – Kat was already into her ‘death scene’ of the day._

_She was pushing the trolley along the plane aisle, handing out refreshments and making small talk to the passengers when the pilot announced they’d be landing in Wellington, New Zealand, to refuel for the last leg of their journey. Seconds later, a terrific boom and a massive jolt, and the world was thrown into chaos as luggage and goods tumbled around freely, the floor tuned into the ceiling, the left wall, the floor, the right wall and the ceiling again. Air was sucked out of the fuselage as it burst into four pieces, all of them burning and spinning as they cartwheeled away across the sky._

_As she looked out across the wreckage of the seven four seven she’d been on, she was horrified to see the mangled remains of a seven three seven, more-or-less intact, save for a wing and its tail section, falling into the ocean beneath them. That’s when she began to register pain in her back and leg – a large shard of airframe was bent in from where it had blown apart, and one end was now firmly jutting into her spine – between two of the rearward coming ribs. Her leg was being crushed by a fallen seat rack – the seats having been torn out when the craft disintegrated._

_Desperation lent her strength as she tore at the metal, frantic to remove the foreign objects from her body and dull the pain – in her anxiety not considering that, if she did that, she would assuredly bleed out before she even landed. She freed her back by the simple expedient of yanking herself forward, off the offending item. Blood loss increased in speed and she was becoming light-headed – a fact not helped by the thin atmosphere so high up._

_She cursed and pulled more weakly at the metal in her leg, managing only to worsen the injury. By the time she was free of it, she was coming to the somewhat obvious conclusion that, in all likelihood, she would not survive this accident, she began to say silent farewells to her family and friends, readying herself, mentally, for what was likely to happen._

_Agony like fire ran down her legs in the frigid air racing through the falling plane, temperatures were at a record low for the time of year, and so high up as they’d been to start with, it wouldn’t have been too surprising to see ice forming on the torn edges if anyone had been in a frame of mind not to terrified to notice. The cold oxygen burned in her lungs like a furnace, pain like a bomb exploding with each and every breath, blood clotting in her uniform, making it stiff, and board like as it froze in the swiftly rushing air._

_Her mind screamed with pain as her body started to give up – her extremities going numb as her body shut down un-necessary systems to try and conserve core temperature and brain function. Her fingers slid from the seat frames she’d been clinging to as her hands froze. With no grip on anything, she fell from the wreckage and tumbled, freefall, through the late evening sky as she breathed her last._

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_Adam was anxious, but he was angry too. Why was he the only one aware of what was going on? Kat was SUPPOSED to have eight guardian Angels – literally. Some fucking guardians if they don’t even know about the daily torture she was going through – these ‘death scenes’ were really taking it out of her, and Adam didn’t know what to do. He swore to their Father, if it happened again, he was setting feathered asses on holy fire to get some kind of action from the lazy blasted assholes._

_After she’d recovered, Kat called Kevin as a nasty thought wouldn’t leave her alone – what if these were no more visions than the nightmares she’d had of epidemics had been simple dreams. With a sense of foreboding, Kat rang the young Prophet’s number, dreading what she would find out. It was as bad as she’d feared – There HAD been a lightning strike at a large oil refinery in Detroit, the business district had been decimated by the fires tracking along the cracking gas mains._

_The day before there WAS an accident in a Nuclear Power Station in Glasgow, the core had gone critical when its coolant systems failed – and despite the gallant, fatal attempts of some of its senior staff, radio-active matter was still escaping and contaminating the surrounding city. Breaking news, straight out of New Zealand was the mid-air collision of two airliners in the skies above Wellington – resulting in hundreds of dead. The death count for any of the three unknown as of yet. Shivering, Kat thanked him numbly, and rang off._

_Lucifer appeared, a little uncertain of what he was doing there, and pondering why Kevin had sent HIM along to talk to the Apostle and her Mate – why not Gabriel or Michael, they were the bondees to the two. He overlooked the fact that he was Kevin’s Bondee, meaning Kevin was more inclined to call on him or Samandriel – his second Bondee._

_When he heard – factually from Kat and sarcastically from Adam – about what Kat was going through, he realised two things. One was that, although many things were felt through their connections in the chain of bondees, nothing to do with her Apostleship was, the second was that Adam felt that the Angels were falling down on their duty of care to their chosen one._

_Given what Kat’d recounted, and Adam’s recitation of the state each had left her in, Lucifer had to reluctantly wonder if the Milligan boy wasn’t correct in his reading of the situation – after all, they’d had one Angel on hand at all times at first, while she was with Team Free Earth. Why did they take less interest in her since she’d crossed the Atlantic to Cardiff? Was it because she was nearer home? Because she was in an underground base most of the time? Lucifer didn’t know, but it looked like, if things kept going like they were, they’d have to change._

_& &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&_

_That day, Kat had Angelic Company all day, Lucifer having returned to wherever the Host hung out all the time they weren’t with Kat, and lit fires under a few, selected, butts. Samandriel took the afternoon watch, asking questions about most everything the Apostle laid hands on, if it was not familiar to him. Kat found his dedicated gentility and thirst for knowledge to be both amusing and touching. Samandriel was one of her favourite Angels to have around at such times._

_Zachariah had the evening shift – a fact that did not sit well with either Kat OR Adam – both found Zachariah to be a priggish, self-satisfied, bigoted pain in the ass. Zachariah saw his time with the Apostle as a chance to educate her on her duties and responsibilities as HE saw them – Kat had a very different view of them, and often amused herself by playing little tricks on the tactless Angel._

_This particular evening, while Zach was talking to himself about responsibilities of the Apostle, the actions and reactions expected and the conditions offered. Kat had had enough. Tired of witnessing death, foreseeing plagues and epidemics, she turned on the Angel, and questioned him. He wasn’t prepared, nor did he have many answers, those he did were not really suitable for offering to a teenager – that was one aspect of her being found no-one had expected – her youth. An Apostle of greater vintage had been expected, yet there was nothing in the lore or prophesies that should have lead them to that belief, it just was expected._

_This was the reason why so many of the Host were …..Uncertain of whether it COULD be the Apostle – she was young, her family was nothing special, according to her blood-ancestry, and she had no inkling, nor any premonition that she was bound for great things – all in all, not what they had expected._

_Michael was keeping them up to date on her growing abilities, and this latest news – experiencing the death of a stranger, hundreds of kilometres from where she was, in real time, was one thing that garnered interest. It was one of the prophesied talents of the Apostle, and was also of immense interest as the way in which she and Adam had been dealing with it was, to say the least, unexpected._

_Another of the prophesied abilities of the Apostle was that they would be able to summon objects to comfort and sooth, or send messages over vast distance to near strangers – like she had to Gabriel when she, Kevin, Sam and Adam had been abducted, messaging Gabriel and Summoning puppies to the four abductees. She also met the prophesied fortitude to test and retest the Chain of Angels, Hunters and Alien Seekers. A variant of this had been foreseen in the foretelling scrolls of old. Many didn’t believe that the tests Kat had set off were tests of her own design._


	12. Chapter 12

Kat was unimpressed with the news that, though there were Angels, and indeed Archangels, that were prepared to believe in the Apostle of God’s identity without proof, the larger part of the host demanded evidence of the talents and abilities the ‘Prophesies Of The Apostle – World Saviour’ told of. No-one had expected a mere child, scarcely out of the school room, to be ‘The One’. The possibility never occurred, to anyone, least of all the Angels. Why would it? ALL humans are as children to them.

Kat, remembering Michael’s pronouncement at her Birthday Party, after Adam had proposed, also recalled what her mother had said about wanting to ‘talk to him and his brothers’ and sent them off to Devon to speak with Ma. Ma had much to say to the host, and was glad to say it away from her spiritually insensitive daughter. The Angels were to be taken aback by the ‘words of their Father’ as spoken to, and recorded by, the prophets of old.

_”In the Bible, your Fathers book, as set down by the witnesses and Prophets he spoke to, he left specific tasks for Man, Angels and Beasts. Among these are that you, the Angels, should love man as you love your Father – so far, mostly a fail. You should also protect and watch over us – also not a great success. Oh, by the way, God created Jesus, to be his ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, all other beings, in Heaven or on Earth, were made by the Son, Jesus Christ. Doesn’t that make you, in the eyes of mankind, his grandchildren?”_

Ma sat and sipped her coffee as the Host thought on that, then she spoke again. _”As for you, Michael, you may be the ‘Prince Of Heaven’ – allegedly – but the wedding of Kat and Adam isn’t actually something for YOU to schedule, it’s for the Bride and Groom to plan. Be it this week, this month, this year, it’s their choice, not yours. Same goes for venue, reception, and who gives, takes, and officiates. Their choice, not yours. If you can’t bring yourself to acknowledge the rights of your former vessel and Apostle, you can’t really be relied on for the safety of the planet, or the whole of mankind. Likewise the rest of you millennia old feather dusters. Now go, and think on what I’ve said. The Bible may only be a book – as more than one of you have stated, but as I said before, it was written by the people your Father spoke to and who witnessed his actions. Read it – you may learn something.”_

When the Angels arrived back where Kat and Adam sat, they seemed ….different. Quieter, less full of THEIR missions, more thoughtful of Kat and the immensity of hers. Kat couldn’t help but wonder what her Mother had said to have such an impact on the Warriors of God – maybe she should find out. Approaching Gabriel, the closest Angel to her in the chain, she asked about what her Mother had had to say, and was almost brushed off – Gabriel, in his most polite manner, replying that it wasn’t his place to tell, nor should any of his siblings. Kat went straight to the top, and called her Mother direct.

Slightly horrified, but also proud of her Mother for standing up to the Host en mass, one on eight, and taking them to task on their behaviour, she grinned to herself as she rang off and called the Angels to her, quietly, warily, they assembled. Kat, smiling softly to them all, explained that her mother had spoken from a parent’s point of view – they would be the same if they were parents themselves. Take in what her Mother had said, but not to let it overrule their basic mission – just bear in mind that Humans had needs and expectations that the Angels couldn’t just ride rough-shod over if they expected to be listened to and assisted when needed. With a brightening of expressions, the Angels, to the last one – even Zachariah – agreed.

With the Apostle’s approval, the Angels departed from the room, going to think about how to approach the beings that they had previously taken for granted – they’d never considered things from a human’s point of view. Now they did, something they had no real experience with overcame them – Humility. They decided between them that they all, individually and in groups, owed penance to the ones they had mistreated and abused. They must find a way to make amends. It seemed they owed much to the Apostle’s Mother.

Deciding to approach the Apostle for an idea to make amends to her Mother, and thank her for putting them in their places. Kat suggested that her Mother would most likely appreciate a mass healing of the sick and the lame. Kat got onto Toshiko for aid in publicity and organisation – it was going to be a huge, world-wide event, held simultaneously across all five continents – a party of people and Angels on each one, at the appointed time and place to ensure that all comers were healed and no-one was left out or missed.

Word rapidly spread about the upcoming ‘day of miracles’ as the media was calling it – around the world, the press coverage was going wild. Bizarre stories of apocryphal messages from ‘The Miracle Workers’ – about charges and admission fees – of which there was none, nor any limit on how many things each could be cured of – carried across the net like an air-born plague. The planners smiled and kept quiet as the stories got more and more bizarre.

One week before the date of the massed healing – to the day, many noted – a message from a teenage girl, who claimed to be the organiser, went viral in thirty seconds flat. Kat had been persuaded that, for it to be really believable, a face needed to be associated with the public frenzy – and who better than the forth-coming saviour of the world? It would get her face known to the masses and make the whole thing more …..Believable. Nervously, Kat began.

 _”Hi all. None of you know me, well, a few do, I guess, but anyway. A while ago, some friends of mine asked what they could do to make amends to, and thank, my Mother, for all they, and she, had done. My mum’s never been a selfish person – a reward or such would only embarrass her, so I suggested they go out and heal people, help them in ways no-one else could do. This event – Next Sunday – not the Sabbath, you’ll note – is the combined Apology and thank you to her, from them. She’ll know who they are, and who she is. All who arrive are guaranteed to be seen and healed, no matter how bad the illness or injury, or how many ailments they have. I can categorically reveal that there is No fee, for anything. It’s a free service, in my Mother’s honour, from my friends. They’ll be at Weiss Park, S.W. Detroit - Pollock Country Park, Glasgow - Christchurch Botanic Park, Wellington – Uhuru Park, Nairobi and Osaka Castle Park, Osaka. All will take place on the Fourth of July, seven am until ten pm local times – or until everyone that arrives in each place has been seen. ”_ with a nervous grin, and biting her lip, Kat gave a small wave, and the camera stopped filming.

The internet went berserk, trying to find out who this girl was, more importantly, who her ‘friends’ were. After a while, a message came up on her inbox, from one Director Fury, wanting to meet the young lady at the earliest opportunity. S.H.I.E.L.D. feared a hoax, and wanted to …. Eliminate the risk. The prospect of such power actually existing was of grave concern to them all.

The answer came in a rather unexpected way. Director Fury, was, as usual on the bridge of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, when he was suddenly confronted by a group of men…..males, of all races, ages and apparent walks of life, standing in defensive positions around the girl from the video. In keeping with their instincts and training, Fury and his staff reached for their guns, only to find them whipped away and in a pile by the young woman’s feet.

One of the men, stepping close to Fury, eyed him with disgust as he said loudly, his voice ringing with authority and disdain _”Threaten not the Apostle, Human, or suffer the wrath of Heavens servants. Think you so mighty, so important with your impressive metal flying boat? What know you of impressive? Impressive is the work of my Father, your God. Impressive is the undertaking of the teenage girl you threaten with your guns and bullets. Impressive is the heart, the love and devotion to a world that has mistreated her and her family their whole lives. You lost an eye – I tell you that is nothing to the suffering that this young lady endures, daily, to preserve the lives of all beings on this planet.”_

Nick Fury looked like he didn’t believe a word of it, and the speaker was starting to swell with indignation – never a good thing. The young woman stepped forward, a tall youth moving with her, his hand on her arm, his eyes scanning the area for hidden dangers. _”Michael, please, calm yourself. These people mean me no harm – Do you, Director? It’s just procedure to bear arms against sudden intruders – that’s why I said we should call first, then all this could have been avoided. Director, believe it or not, most of the ‘people’ before you are Angels, and Archangels, of the Lord – of God. I, I’m informed, am the ‘Apostle’, the one selected to save the whole planet. I know – the fuck, right? Honestly though, it’s the truth. The others are my fiancée, (and Michael’s former vessel) Adam Milligan, his half-brother (and Lucifer’s former vessel) Sam Winchester, Sam’s older brother, Dean Winchester, and the Prophet, Kevin Tran. With us are Archangels Michael, Lucifer, and Gabriel, and Angels Castiel, Balthazar, Samandriel, Inias, and Zachariah. We’re working with a group I’m sure you’ve heard of before – Torchwood (Cardiff), led by that old charmer, Jack Harkness, sorry make that Captain Harkness.”_

At the mention of someone that WAS familiar to him, the Director’s face eased into a less severe frown, body posture softening infinitesimally as he realised that there was little he could do but accept, temporarily, the extraordinary claims until they could be proved or disproved. He motioned for weapons to be put away. 

As the nervous young woman explained who they all, allegedly, were, each made a movement to indicate which was which – even if some of the ‘Angels’ looked decidedly less than Angelic – or graceful – about it. With a relieved smile, Kat moved closer to the tall, one eyed, black man, a hand extending to shake his making the introductions official. He took her hand with a deal of caution and rather more disdain than pleased the Host.

Now that they had the ‘teenage hoaxer’ on board, they had to prove her to be a fraud – not easy when she came with a complement of powerfully built, well-muscled, and determined men to keep her safe. To Fury’s bewilderment, she told the most of them they could leave now that she was safely aboard, and she’d call them if they were needed. Within seconds, there was just her and her ‘fiancé’ left. Director Fury was left in something of a quandary as to what was going on – his safest course of action seemed to be to re-assemble the avengers.

Kat, sitting on a bench recovering from the latest ‘test’ that S.H.I.E.L.D. had put her through caught a worried Adam’s attention as her head slumped to the left, face washing free of all expression and colour in a familiar sign to him. Swearing violently, he yelled for assistance and cradled her to him.

Kat scrabbled for purchase on the tiled floor, the whole building shaking and trembling as the Earth tore itself free of the snag its tectonic plates had been stuck by, violently jolting the business and industrial area that happened to get in the way of the subterranean fault line that ran through it. Concrete and steel crumbled and twisted as glass shattered, coating her in a thick film of debris and choking dust. 

Having been working in a strip mine on the edge of the industrial centre, processing the crushed rock for precious minerals and stones, she was in a dangerous area when the Earthquake hit – her bulky masculine 250 lb body not easily protected from the devastation in the buildings and structures around her. A chunk of the roof fell, shattering the conveyor belt that carried the crushed ore to the various parts of the mine’s treatment building, trapping her under the steel and iron framework that now looked more like a pretzel than a piece of machinery.

More tremors hit, bringing more destruction, and a deepening pile of bits of metal and concrete, broken glass and torn rubber, fire now taking hold from the furnaces that had melted the mineral rich ores to thousands of degrees to free those precious elements from their rock tombs. An inferno raged over her as the flammable parts of the wreckage on her caught light, turning the heap of rubble and debris she was buried in into her funeral pyre, even as she watched the flames descend to her, and breathed gratefully the toxic smoke – she died of gaseous poisons before the flames even touched her.

Back on the Helicarrier, no-one –except Adam – had any idea what to do, or why such a healthy young woman should seemingly collapse like this, they were rushing her to the medical centre when she came to, crying out for Adam in the wake of her first death as a man. It had been no less terrifying than any of the women’s deaths she’d already lived. Adam, snorting derisively at the ‘top people’ around them drew them all to a halt and took her into his arms, providing the only comfort that Kat wanted right then, taking her to the medical centre for a check-up only to pacify the asshats and butt-brains around him. 

In the three days that Kat agreed to spend as a ‘guest’ on board the Helicarrier, she was put through endless tests and challenges – ones that even some of the Avengers might have struggled with, but for some reason, this nineteen year old English girl trumped them all, beating skills, logic, statistics, and all else thrown at her while Adam sat there, watching on screen, and getting increasingly angry over the whole thing. One day, his temper snapped and the other fourteen members of the Bondees Chain appeared right in the middle of the room where the latest inane test was being carried out.

This one involved Kat being immobilised – strapped to a hospital style bed - and bombarded with energy rays and beams of differing varieties to attempt to enable them to ‘trigger’ a change in behaviour on camera so they could analyse it and find the flaw. The arrival of the Bondees coincided with the arrival of the Avengers – the two sets of beings standing across the room from one another, arms akimbo, ready to strike back if attacked. 

Kat, eyeing Nick Fury with a kind of Motherly scorn for a slow child, asked if Inias could, without moving, disarm Hawkeye – his bow and arrows lifted from his back and gently touched down at the Apostle’s feet. Samandriel retrieved the Captain’s Shield in similar manner, and Tony’s Ironman suit made an appearance – in its relevant parts – on the floor before them, courtesy of Zachariah. Balthazar had a whiskey appear in each of their hands and Castiel had honey and beeswax passed around.

Gabriel summoned candy and bouncy chairs for all while Lucifer – with a glint in his eyes – reduced a file of test results on the Apostle to ash with a mere thought. Michael, looking almost too put upon to be bothered when he was asked, in the nicest possible way, to bring a table and seats into being for them all – but there they were, trestle tables and benches like in an old school, ready for all to sit on. Then he sat them all down.

Just as the last person was seated, swearing started up from ‘Team Free Earth’ – starting with Adam. Kat’s head was resting on her left shoulder and her face was pale and clear – this was another death scene – the first the Avengers would witness.

In her mind, Kat wasn’t the nineteen year old Apostle of the Lord – she was a three year old girl, on the outskirts of Glasgow, sick and crying for her poorly mother. They lived in the shadow of the Nuclear Power Station where her father had died – and now she and her mother were sick with radiation poisoning, blisters forming all over her body, oozing blood as they burst onto the already caked sheets of her now filthy bed, her mother dead in the kitchen.

She called and cried non-stop until her throat filled with pustules and she couldn’t cry, let alone call out. Violent fever racked her tiny body as she sweated more than she could afford to, her tiny small form already devoid of any spare fluid, dehydration starting to bite. But it was when the blisters in her throat – engorged with blood and choking her for air – burst that she died, drowning on her own inhaled blood, the last thing she knew the intense agony of her eyes bursting from built up pressure of the blisters behind them popping.

Kat, when she came too, fell into Adam’s arms, completely inconsolable and murmuring _”She was only three, just a kid, she didn’t deserve that. God, why are these things happening?_ Adam, scooping her onto his lap, glared at the group of black uniformed agents and heroes around them, trying to comfort Kat yet get his anger at them over as well. Gabriel came to stand behind the two and read what Kat had lived.

In silent communication with his two older brothers, he passed along what she’d lived and how it had ended, then suggested that the doubting humans be put through the same – the Archangels, working together, make them all live the child’s death, exactly as the Apostle had, so they would understand the depth of her suffering for them. The agreement was made.

Gabriel spoke _”Well people today is your lucky day, for one day only, after I put the Apostle to rest, you all get to feel and see just what she did then. That way you should all understand how much this young girl, hated and teased all her life, met with weapons when she voluntarily came aboard, is doing, going through, to try and keep this Universe safe.”_

Once Kat was safely settled – with Adam, on a sofa, swathed in blankets – the members of Team Free Earth prepared themselves – they’d done this once before, to a lesser degree, and knew what to expect, sort of, so they could do a little to prepare themselves – the Agents and Avengers knew nothing, and so could do nothing to prepare – taken completely by surprise when the feelings of being an extremely ill three year old overtook their bodies.

By the time it had ended, just a matter of minutes later, the results were clear to see on all of their faces. Shock, trauma, tears, remorse – the suffering of the child, the Apostle, and all of them now easy to tell. Steve was one of the first outsiders to respond – he stood and hugged the girl, tears unashamedly running down his cheeks, Bruce was face down on the table, his shoulders trembling as he fought for control, Tony was looking round for a drink, eyes moist and blinking rapidly, while the two assassins held onto one another’s hands and struggling not to cry.

The real teller was Nick Fury – his eye was wet with tears and his mouth clamped shut, Maria Hill was seated, hands knotted in her lap with tension and tears streaming down her face, while Phil Coulson sat there, his hanky tugged from his pocket and being used on his eyes to great effect. Thor though, Thor was incredibly visual with his feelings – Mjolnir making a hasty return trip through the wall as he vented his rage at the child’s needless suffering.

When Kat awoke, roughly half an hour later, most of the Avengers were still in the room, though the Agents had returned to work by then, a low rumble of voices met her ears as she slowly drifted out of sleep. _”And that’s the fifth one she’s lived? Shit!”_ Adam’s voice _”Seventh, actually. The first one was one of the workers in the now destroyed Potts - Stark Tower in Detroit.”_ Tony then _”How the hell did she live the death of one of my workers from all the way in Cardiff?”_

Kat’s voice, quiet and shaky, broke through the babble _”Please, if you must talk about it, do it away from me. Bad enough I have to LIVE it without endless discussions about it too.”_ the voices stilled as the men and women took in the still pale features of the clearly vulnerable teenager before them. The decision made on the spot to let her return to where she’d come from.

Getting back to the Hub – finally – Kat attempted to make up for lost time, AND do the final preparations for the ‘International Day of Healing’ – now only three days off. Kat was scheduled to visit each place for a few hours while the event was on. Angel Air was the only option for transport, and Adam was adamant that he’d be with her too, so plans were made for teams of three Angels to work each place, changing who was where as the day wore on – in total they’d be working for about thirty six hours – tops. 

The first place they kicked off with was Weiss Park, in south west Detroit, America, Lucifer was the first Angel assigned to that one – Sam had pointed out that, with his starting the Apocalypse there, it would be a way to make some form of amends to the city – the Light Bringer agreed, Inias and Balthazar going with him.

Over in Glasgow, the UK, at Pollack Country Park, the ‘chief’ Angel would be Zachariah – with Samandriel and Michael along for the ride. It had been a long time since Zachariah had been out of Heaven – even longer since he’d been anywhere but to America, so getting him on a different continent was seen as a good thing. 

Castiel would head the crew in Nairobi, Kenya, at Uhuru Park, a part of the world he’d not seen much of in his time on Earth. While he’d be busy, he’d get an idea of his Father’s stunning range of talents for differing landscapes at the same time. 

Michael would lead the team in Osaka, Japan, at Osaka Castle, once again, he’d be joined by others as they finished up in their own areas. 

Gabriel would start proceedings in Wellington’s Christchurch Botanic Park, in New Zealand. This would give him a chance to see more of the world he loved and possibly see some of the sights he missed whilst hiding out as a Trickster.

The plan was simple, yet so much could go wrong, if they got the time zones wrong, or went to them in the wrong order. Even language couldn’t be guaranteed as there was local dialects to just about every language on the planet. They must concentrate. Kat listed precise details of the geographic locations and times they needed to arrive to be ready – local teams had been organised to erect tents and set out tables with water and shade and such, but all else was on the team that would be arriving with the Angels.

The day ran like clockwork – promptly at 7 o’clock local time (2 am GMT) the group started work in Detroit – the crowd of hundreds rapidly escalating when it was discovered that the claims of free healing were true. The demands for reasonable behaviour as all would be seen, fortunately also being met. Lucifer seeing people close up for the first time – in a friendly way – in millennia.

On the dot of 7 am in Glasgow, the same happened – the crowds swelling when the truth was discovered of the days claims – they really could, and did, cure any amount of ailments from any person, all ailments dealt with with speed and comfort, no trickery or rudeness at any point. They worked on for hours. Zachariah’s bedside manner a little off, but he still did the job.

At 7 am in Nairobi (9 am GMT) the third group started to treat the swelling masses there – word spreading from other places that it was no trick meant that more people than ever had already arrived when the metaphorical gates opened. Still more poured in. Castiel’s ‘rusty people skills’ causing much needed amusement and helping to brighten the spirits of those waiting.

At precisely 7 am in Osaka (3 pm GMT), the fourth team started, the first one just starting to peter out, and the Angels that had just finished there started to arrive elsewhere, backing up the newer opening centres. Michael, having left Zachariah in Glasgow was pleased to see him arrive in time to give relief to more of the world’s sick and injured at Michael’s own centre.

Finally, at 7 am in Wellington (6 pm GMT) Gabriel started work, the other Angels joining in as soon as their own centres had cleared – Castiel delayed by a last minute plea from a bus full of disabled children stuck on a motorway behind a crash. With a fond smile – it was children – Castiel took wing and went too them, healing crash injuries as well as longer term ones. Once the very last crash victim had been attended, he flew to his older brother’s side. The suckers that appeared like magic for every child Gabriel treated received as if it were pure gold.

The Angels, their spirits lifted by the day’s fantastic reception and how many they’d managed to cure energizing them in ways they hadn’t been since their Father did a bunk from the Heavenly Home. When Kat and Adam got back, exhausted almost beyond sleeping they were carrying a few small, select gifts from grateful patients the world over.

 

Kat’s favourite was a piece of hand-made cloth – only about the size of a washcloth – given to her by the parents of a baby boy in Kenya that had been dying of Cholera, Adam had a hand carved wooden Persian Cat he’d had thrust at him by the grandparents of a five year old boy in Japan whose parents had been killed in a road accident two years before.


	13. Chapter 13

Kat, having just made a coffee for herself and Adam, dropped both mugs to the floor to shatter into a myriad of tiny pieces as her head slanted to the left once more, already pale-with-tiredness face whitening still further as another death scene crept over her. 

Adam came running at the sound of breaking china, almost expecting what he found – Kat, now slumped on the floor - blood beading out of the many small cuts and gashes from the fragments of pottery, minor scalds over her face and hands from the near boiling liquid – evidently living another person’s death. Sighing tiredly, he summoned Michael and Gabriel to help him take her to their room.

Kat was trying desperately to find her way through the fractured streets of Wellington, the falling pieces of wreckage and fiery, fume-laden air making it difficult and dangerous to be outside, but the buildings now being unstable due to the extreme heat fracturing the internal structure of the very walls themselves. It was a Hellish place to be in. 

Choking on dust from the collapsing buildings and aviation fuel fumes in the air, trying to dodge the bits of fuselage and human remains that consistently pelted the city, it was almost inevitable that she would get hit. As she pelted around a corner, a falling, burning airplane seat landed on her, impaling her on its twisted and broken framework, the weight knocking her to her knees as the fire drenched stuffing fell from a tear in its fabric to set her alight, a dousing of liquid aviation fuel causing it to vaporise her as she knelt, trying to absorb what was happening. Her last clear thought that the world had descended into the very pits of Hell itself.

Coming to herself, Kat found herself snuggled up in bed, Adam sat curled around her, Michael and Gabriel watching concernedly from the bedside as Sam and Dean called over the prayer net to find out what was wrong. Her face and hands hurt – not badly, but something was wrong. That’s when the whole event re-ran through her head like a private horror show in her own personal cinema.

As she gasped and jolted upright – nearly making Adam lose a tooth with how hard she hit her head on his jaw – the two hovering Archangels moved in closer to heal the scalds and cuts from her contact with the kitchen floor and the spilt coffee. Adam cradled her close, unwilling, after all they’d seen and done that day, to let her be now she was hurt. Kat nestled contentedly tighter in and let on what she’d lived this time.

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Next day, a request for her to return to the Helicarrier meant that Kat – and Adam – returned to the carrier, prepared for a somewhat longer stay this time as the Agents, and still assembled Heroes, tried to figure out and assimilate what her new, growing abilities could mean. When Kat got pissed at the amount of invasive tests that had been developed for her, she shot 10,000 volts of lightning at the Ironman Suit, bouncing it off the Captain’s Shield and onto Mjolnir, just out of frustration. The crew backed away, cautious in the face of this unexpected threat.

Adam argued, talked and bargained his time away with Fury and the Council he represented to little avail – The Apostle was, so far as they were concerned, theirs for so long as they wanted. Adam, only there on sufferance, could put up or be ejected from the ship. With that ultimatum in hand, Adam called the Host and relayed what he’d just been told. The Council members weren’t in their chambers for long, the Angels rapidly departing to return bearing them to meet the girl whose life they had decided they could take charge of. They soon changed their minds.

Once more, Kat’s head slumped onto her left shoulder, a familiar pallor and stillness sweeping over her features as she lost herself in another death, another place. The Council members made to stay and see how much more she was taking than even they knew. Kat’s mind had wandered this time to Nairobi again, and a death scene like none she’d ever lived before, one that would change her whole life – Adam’s life too.

She was tired, 8 ½ months pregnant and in the heat of the summer, just doing the shopping was a serious challenge to her energy levels. The room started to shake and vibrate as the air trembled and dust rose from the floor and walls in swirling clouds, the shock of the Earthquake bringing on an early labour and she teetered on her feet as she struggled to get outside the shop to find a way to the open air, and transport to hospital.

Staggering out the broken door frame, the ground still rippling with after-shocks, she was about to make her way onto the sidewalk when a tremendous booming crash rumbled down from overhead, and she looked up to see a portion of the roof had come free and was heading her way, a split second later, she was nearly decapitated when it hit the street, the torn edge of it cutting deep into her neck, severing her carotid artery. 

As her life blood seeped away, something strange was happening to Kat, her awareness was shrinking, growing smaller, darker, and tighter. As the mother died, Kat’s awareness became focussed on the baby – the tiny life inside her that was still struggling for survival. Suddenly, harsh bright light and loud noise assaulted her ears as cold air and sunlight hit her minute body. Aware that she’d been cut free of her mother, she screamed her displeasure to the world.

Gasping for air, when she righted herself this time, Kat was dazed and shaken by what she’d witnessed, but not inconsolable, as she had been before. Snagging Gabriel’s hand she insisted he go find out how that baby was – his blank expression reminding her that she’d not let on what had happened yet. 

After a swift run down, Gabe left, returning moments later to say they were BOTH fine, but had no relatives. Both parent’s single children and orphans to boot, they had neither parents, grandparents nor anyone else by way of family to look after them. Kat spun to face Adam, asking to talk. With one look into his fiancé’s eyes, he announced _”Yes Kat, of course we can adopt them. I’d love to raise children with you.”_

Smiling lovingly at him, she kissed his lips before turning to Lucifer and Michael, demanding _”I don’t care how you do it, but Adam and I want to adopt those twins. We’ll give them the family they don’t have – I can’t have any of my own anyway. I won’t say it again – don’t come back without positive news for us.”_

The Council, watching the determined faces of the two youths in front of them as they ordered the other beings – they COULDN’T be Angels – about, decided that maybe they should re-think their attitude to the prolonged captivity of the girl – it may be healthier for them. The remains of the group of ‘beings (not Angels)’ agreed in a most ….encouraging way. The Avengers entered just as the two Archangels left on their mission, and sat with the couple to wait. 

When they got back, the Angels – in their own inimitable way, had news for them, news that brought the couple to their feet in shocked amazement. The Authorities, while cognisant of the fact that of the fact that she was the one that had organised the world wide day of healing, and was aiding every continent to the best of her abilities with their differing problems, the law stated that adoption was for married couples. Kat and Adam were not married, so they could not adopt – the fact of their engagement had mattered little, save to be told to ‘provide proof once the wedding has been carried out’. Disheartened, Kat sat down and tried not to cry.

Trying to put their disappointment behind them, they moved on to concentrating on the other things that needed doing, Kat more determined than ever to save the planet for those children, even if she was never to see them again. Depression took a grip on Kat during the next few weeks, no matter how hard she worked on other things, and her heart ached with longing for those two tiny babies, all alone in the world. Adam saw and understood, but could find no way to help. The Archangels were scheming, and weren’t shy about dragging in Torchwood, S.H.I.E.L.D. and anyone else that could help their plans. Tony was put to use in his own, influential way. 

Kat and Adam knew nothing of the plans going on around them, and devoted themselves so much to the task at hand, it was a wonder they ever slept. The one thing that kept them going was their bond – the soul deep love and devotion that kept them on an even keel, whatever came along. Until one day, when Kat went missing, and Adam passed out.

When Michael got to Adam’s side, it was to find him flat out, collapsed on the floor of the Helicarriers canteen, a broken mug and pool of still hot coffee his obvious reason for his being there. What was troubling Michael though, was the absence of the Apostle – the affianced couple were scarcely ever more than the width of a room apart, less when one was ill, yet here was Adam, clearly very unwell, and Kat nowhere in sight.

Angels can see Humans primarily by their soul – everyone’s is different – so doing a simple sweep of the Helicarrier was enough to confirm the absence of the Apostle on board – explaining why she wasn’t with Adam, also explaining Adam’s ailment, the sudden, unexpected separation from a soul mate can leave one, if not both, in a coma like condition, which will only worsen until either the mate returns, or they die. They had to find Kat fast, it was vital – he summoned the rest of the bondees chain.

When Kat was located – by Gabriel – it wasn’t a surprise that she wasn’t alone. The surprise was who had her – none other than the God-wannabe Archangel Metatron. Sure, the set up looked legitimate, coffee and cake in front of them, but you only needed to look at her face to see that something was wrong.

Her face was pale, features etched with pain and drawn tight over her bone structure – she was clearly aware of her mate’s distress. Gabriel summoned Michael and Lucifer – Castiel and Balthazar also attending, Inias and Samandriel staying with Adam.

Storm clouds gathered as the five Angel team faced off against the other Angel. He, the scribe of God, the one that stole Castiel’s grace as a part of a spell to evict all Angels from Heaven (Hell too, evidently, that’s how Michael and Lucifer got free).

The storm broke, and released a veritable monsoon of rain, beating down from the clouds like bullets, lightning streaked the sky, illuminating the suddenly pitch black sky and thunder crashed like a maniac run wild in the percussionist station of an orchestra. Metatron spluttered – he’d not expected to be found, or for so many to arrive. His lack of knowledge of certain very pertinent facts – like the small matter of her being bonded to Michael’s former vessel – a soul mate bond at that – endangering both their lives with his kidnapping of her, or the fact of her incredible, but not fully mastered - new powers and abilities. 

‘Marv’ paled on being informed – in a coldly hostile way – about these facts, and the fact that her bond mate was in a coma due to suddenly being absent from Kat’s presence. Of course, the reminder that, should Adam fail to recover from this incident that Kat would be so affected to be rendered almost incapable of defending the planet and realms they all loved. 

Metatron was escorted by three of them back to the Heavenly Jail, while two, Castiel and Gabriel bringing a nearly delirious Kat back to Adam’s side. Kat and Adam’s reunion – though rapid by some instances – still took precious time they couldn’t really afford, and by the end of the fourth day, when Adam was ready to return to almost normal activities, the teams, especially the Apostle, had a backlog to cope with.

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The next new arrivals shook Kat to the core. A group of people – male and female – came trooping in together, all smartly dressed in suits – business people from the looks of them – the seeming leader was a slender black female of average height and a forceful look to her angular face.

Castiel, the Angel with Kat and Adam at the time, drew his shoulders back, standing sharply to attention. In fact, Adam could almost SEE the resentful salute, as Cas’s muttered _”Raphael”_. This, then, was the Archangel who smote Castiel when he dared to think for himself and try to help PREVENT the Apocalypse.

God had brought Castiel back – more than once, actually – and Raphael both resented it, and doubted it was his father, he suspected his brother, Lucifer of intervening. With Raphael were Hester, Rachael, Hael, Nathaniel, Naomi, Gadreel, Rebecca, Aziraphale and Ion. Kat, and Adam, not knowing who they were, took from Castiel’s body language that they were more of his siblings – good guess.

When the new comers saw Cas, their expressions darkened, and one or two looked almost dangerous. In precautionary actions, Kat prayed to Gabriel, even as Adam called on Michael and Lucifer. All three arrived in an instant, Michael demanding an explanation for their abrupt presence – the answer pleased no-one.

_”The female, Kat Hardy, did not fit the prophesied Apostle in age, orientation or faith, that being the case, most of the Host had decided to await evidence that she was who she was claimed to be. Congratulations, Castiel, once again, YOU are the Angel of the moment, returning triumphant with the hope of the future. Incredibly good fortune you have, isn’t it? You being the one that retrieved the ‘Righteous Man’ from Hell, that pulled Lucifer’s ‘True Vessel’ from the cage. You identify and locate the Prophet, now the Apostle too. One might almost wonder if it wasn’t a higher force guiding your actions, GODSTIEL.”_

Cas looked uncomfortable, while Kat smiled pityingly at Raphael before, nodding to Michael, Kat cleared her throat, winked at Adam, and began _”Raphael, you do know that, after you killed Castiel out of spite, it was your Father that brought him back to life again, don’t you? Did again when Lucifer turned him to chunky noodle soup for molotoving Michael with holy fire at the abortive Apocalypse. That he was re-made sane after he lifted Sam’s insanity in the wake of said failed Apocalypse, and the aftermath of Hell. That he only ‘discovered’ me because one of your Father’s creations from a distant planet was threatening me in an opticians. DO YOU REALLY NEED TO QUESTION IF ALL OF THAT COULD BE A COINCIDENCE? BECAUSE I DON’T, AND I DON’T EVEN BELIEVE IN YOUR FATHER!”_

Raphael, looking down his nose that one of the ‘mud monkeys’ was daring to speak to him, even if it WAS the Apostle, in such a manner. How dare she have the _Temerity_ to speak to him like that? Michael gave him a stern look before, audibly, clearly, agreeing with the Apostle. The eyes of the Angels opened wide – Michael agreeing with ANY Human was unprecedented, and this clearly set some of them back on their heels.

Adam stood behind Kat, his hands on her shoulders in a display of loving support and smiled mockingly at the stern looking woman opposite him, the Angels that accompanied her standing arms akimbo, around her. The Apostle, her mate, Castiel and the other three Archangels facing them with an indefinable look in their eyes, eyes that saw through excuses.

_”Really. Didn’t match the descriptions in the prophesies about the Apostle? What description would that be? According to Michael, Lucifer and Gabriel here, there IS no description, of any kind, relating to anything other than abilities and talents. Admit it, you made a bunch of assumptions, and backed the wrong horse.”_

Kat took up when Adam left off _”Look at it this way, when Castiel called that I’d been ‘found’ and summoned the Host, only six arrived. Those six were Gabriel, Lucifer, Inias, Samandriel, Balthazar, and Zachariah. Two of them came after he’d killed them, even if it wasn’t, necessarily, his own choice to do so. Michael came a few days later when he was asked to appear before me, the rest of you didn’t show so much as a feather’s worth of interest. So there were no signs about me until now, huh? Wasn’t there a prophesy about a chain of Humans, Spirits and Angels, linked soul, spirit and grace that would include the Apostle and the Prophet? We forged that ‘Chain of Bondees’ five months ago. Or the ‘Apostles Trials by Abduction’? There have been three so far, with actual aliens involved.”_

Kat took a deep breath and eyed them all pensively, before saying _”All these facts you’ve ignored and denied to maintain the ‘innocence’ of the group you lead, but that innocence is gone, torn down by your own actions. You, Raphael, you lead with traitorous intent. You, I think, are Naomi. A self-righteous, callous, scheming female that made a grab for power but punished anyone else she judged to have ‘Acted Against Heavens Interests’ – as though it was your right to judge. Hester, Rachael, Hael, Gadreel, Aziraphale, and Ion, you all watched as another tried to kill Castiel, or tried to yourself, despite his already having done penance. The only true innocents here are Nathaniel and Rebecca, who all the rest of you are holding back in some way. Judge others as you would be judged yourself. I care not for your names, you, like the Apostle to Jesus, you needed proof of who the person was, so you’ll all be Thomas or Thomasina, until you have proved your individuality and honour.”_

As Kat’s brief, if somewhat sarcastic summary of the group before her came to an end, Kevin, Dean and Sam burst in, the Bonds bringing them at a run, the other Angels in the Chain appearing too, as did the Spirits of Jo and Ellen. The two groups faced one another across the room, wings – invisible to the Humans – ruffling in preparation for possible combat. The Humans taking protective stances beside their Angels. Then Kat had an idea.

 _”Michael, Lucifer, Sam, Dean, tell this group of assorted Asshats and Buttheads what I made you do. Cas, explain to them why you remained in Purgatory when Dean escaped, despite everything. Then I’ll tell you what I said to everyone. If I’m the Apostle, and you want me to do my part when the time comes, you can cut out the war-zone attitudes and bitching. You get on, or you get out. I cannot, will not, work in such an atmosphere. Change your plans or change your ways.”_ Kat’s voice was firm.

Looking offended Raphael and Naomi looked at one another, contemplating their options. Silence reigned in the room as they thought. With the Apostle – hairless ape that she was – AND Michael, Lucifer and Gabriel all being Pro Castiel, and the Chain of Bondees already made, they would not have nearly as much control as they had supposed. Hard decisions needed making. Could they, in all honesty, put up with living in that situation for all eternity. If not, what could be done about it? 

Adam coughed, bringing the attention of the newly arrived Angels to him, along with the chain of Bondees, and he looked deep into each of the newly arrived Angels eyes, reading their Angelic intentions, just like he remembered Michael doing when he was the Archangel’s vessel. What he read didn’t surprise OR please him, and he was NOT about to let it happen. Time to take the bull by the horns – or the Angel by the Halo, whichever.

Putting a hand in Kat’s hand, and his other onto Michael’s shoulder, he faced the gathered new-comers and eyed them closely, having examined each head to toe, most he looked at derisively, looking to Michael to ask _”How well can you read your siblings? Can you tell if one’s about to usurp you, and overthrow all your Father’s plans? Reward the Apostle with her own death as soon as she’s done her part in the salvation of the planet?”_

Michael glanced at Raphael, looking longer at Naomi, before meeting the gaze of each of the Angels in the new group. Only Nathaniel and Rebecca met his eyes without flinching, square on and honest. Michael stored away that little snippet of information, as did Lucifer and Gabriel. Kat smiled as a thought occurred to her, and she whisper thought it to the Angels in the Chain, and to Adam.

Nods of agreement ran around the ring. _”The Apostle shall perform the ‘Secret Sharing’ on the new Angels, as she has on everyone else in the bond chain. If anyone refuses, they cannot be trusted and must be evicted from the group. Team Free World MUST be pure of doubt and mistrust.”_ Michael’s voice brooked no argument.

Raphael and Naomi appeared reluctant – they didn’t want ANYONE poking about in their heads, never mind the Apostle. A mere mud monkey with more skills than her kind could manage and some even more advanced than some Angels powers. But there was no way to refuse unless they wanted to be banned from the team working with the Apostle. Like it or not, they had to accept. Nathaniel and Rebecca had no qualms about it – they had nothing to fear, nothing to hide. The ‘Secret Revelation’ began, as before, with Adam, then would move through the Bondees Chain before moving onto the new recruits and then Gabriel would read Kat herself.

After going through the Bondees Chain, Kat started in on the recruits with Hael, revealing:-  
1) Tried to force Castiel into a ‘Shared Vessel’ union.   
2) Attempted blackmail of same when refused.  
3) Seems to believe ‘might is right’.

Done there, she moved on to Hester, discovering:-  
1) Attempted to kill Castiel in the presence of the Prophet.  
2) Ordered the abduction of the Prophet in murderous manner.  
3) Instructed Inias to remove the Prophet to the desert to cover her while she slew Castiel.

Rachael was revealed as:-  
1) Castiel’s coat turning lieutenant.  
2) Fought Castiel when she didn’t agree with his actions.  
3) Was incredibly rude to Bobby and the Winchesters while they were trying to stop the ‘Mother of All’.

Of Naomi, there wasn’t much surprise, so much as reprise:-  
1) Manipulated ALL Angels by reprogramming their brains.  
2) Sought to control All of Heaven in such way.  
3) Only repented her actions when she saw the truth in Metatron’s eyes.

Nathaniel’s were as pure as expected to be:-  
1) Fledged with Inias and Samandriel.  
2) Worked as a clerk for Naomi.  
3) Participated in ‘searches’ (hunts) for Angels, without knowing why they were wanted.

Gadreel managed to confuse many by being both Guilty and Innocent at the same time:-  
1) Let the Serpent into the Garden of Eden.  
2) Killed Angels and others on Metatron’s orders.  
3) Risked his life assisting Castiel bring Metatron down.

Aziraphale had one secret that NO-ONE knew:-  
1) Had a fiery affair with Crowley.  
2) Fell from Heaven to be nearer him.  
3) Would kill anyone that threatens Crowley’s safety – even the Apostle.

Ion really had a secret in store – especially for Naomi:-  
1) Is on Crowley’s payroll, as Cas found out the hard way.  
2) Was unfeeling toward Cas as he bled out from an Angel Blade Bullet wound.  
3) Paid for his lack of care when Castiel managed to remove the bullet from his stomach and force it into Ion’s eye.

Rebecca, like Nathaniel, was harmless:-  
1) Was brain-trained by Naomi multiple times.  
2) Has been assisting Castiel since Metatron’s downfall.  
3) Was prevented from joining the initial responders by Raphael.

Raphael, having seen how easily Kat ‘read’ the other Angels, was even less willing to be read himself. Kat revealed this to everyone, and they immediately went into defensive mode around him:-  
1) Schemed with Zachariah to get the Apocalypse started a few millenia early.  
2) Murdered Castiel when he would not swear fealty to him.  
3) Has devious schemes in mind for if he is accepted into the chain - BEWARE THE APOSTLE AND HER MATE!

Outrage appeared on the black face of the Archangel of healing, furious at being so clearly, and easily, read. Anger also on the faces of some of the other Angels, the readings being uncomfortably close to their true intentions. Bitter accusation in their glowing eyes as their angered grace shone in their features. Kat and Adam felt tremors of cold fear at the sight of Angelic venom and vengeance aimed at them.

It was at this interesting point that Gabriel stepped up behind the girl, pressing her gently into an empty chair and laying his hands delicately onto her forehead, reading her to the others:-  
1) Thinks Zachariah could lose a lot of weight if he’d only put his ego down.  
2) Has a low opinion of anyone – Angel or otherwise – that sees a life form as ‘collateral damage’ for something not their own fault.  
3) Will fight tooth and nail for what SHE considers right and important.

The chain of bondees, linking securely together, faced the wannabes, the physical links strengthening the spiritual and emotional ones, reinforcing the almost mystical connections between them all. The Angels, eyes widening at the sight before them, could SEE the bonds between them, and fell quiet.

Michael spoke _”Raphael, you were one of us, our Brother, one of the Commandants of Heaven. Our Father left us in charge of running Earth, and LOVING MANKIND. You betray our Father, Us and our mission from Father – Lucifer is a better Son than you, Raphael.”_ He looked around at one of their sisters. _”Naomi, you betrayed our Father, all your siblings, and the very species our Father entrusted to our care. Betrayal is a bitter pill, one you forced down the throat of every Angel you came across, with your trusty drill you shaped the very minds of the Host. Now you expect to be trusted with the safety and security of the Apostle?”_

Turning to the other Angels, Michael grinned humorlessly, before his face sobered, and his smile dropped, a serious look draping itself over his handsome features. _”Hester, Rachael, Hael, Gadreel, Aziraphale, Ion, well known are the actions you have taken against Heaven and our Father. You know the ways in which you have betrayed our Father’s wishes, our assigned tasks. Given your previous track records with ‘Protection’ and ‘Assurance’, do you really think the forces of Heaven will let you close enough to the Apostle to endanger her or the Prophet?”_

Looking to the last two of the new arrivals, Nathaniel and Rebecca, there was sorrow in his gaze as he revealed _”Nathaniel, Rebecca, my friends, would that I could put you into the centre circle right away, but the company you’ve been keeping means that, though you yourselves are innocent of risk, there is the possibility that either, or both of you have been compromised, or re-programmed, by one of those you served. The risk is just too great. I’m sorry, but I’m afraid you, also, will be placed on remand, and work under supervision. No if’s, no but’s, no maybe’s.”_

Lucifer looked to the group, his gaze softening as he looked at Rebecca and Nathaniel, before hardening again on Raphael. _”Don’t think you’ll roam freely while not on duty during this ….test run. We’re bringing in Penny to guard the Prophet and Apostle, and a plethora of Seraphim to watch over you all. Be aware, the Seraphim are the highest class of the Host, and do not, necessarily, need to be present to know what any given person is doing at any one time. The Seraphim report only to God, Jesus and the obedient Archangels – hard luck this time Raphael.”_

Gabriel, taking hold of Sam’s hand, grinned precociously at them, winking at his bond-mate and producing large candies for them both. Nibbling on his lollipop, he smirked at his discomforted siblings before pronouncing, in his jauntiest tone _”You see, my brethren, we, the loyal first responders, are, by right of grace to soul bonds, chosen to protect, honour and love the select few within the inner ring of the Apostle’s faithful. You, the late arrivals, deniers of the truth, you – if you are accepted at all – would go towards forming the outer circle, the first line of defence, not allowed close enough to do harm, nor to enable the activities of others to bring about her downfall. Her growing abilities and talents will set you on your heels, you would-be betrayers.”_

Castiel, with Dean’s had held tight in his own, walked up to his siblings, standing toe to toe with them, nose to nose, to eye each in turn, all but Nathaniel and Rebecca seen with revulsion and disgust. His mate following close behind, the same expression on his face, an evil gleam in his eyes. Dean spoke _”You know, of course, that the Seraphim don’t need physical bodies, don’t you? You won’t know when they’re there, and as Lucifer said – they don’t need to be with you to know what you‘re doing. Raphael, you know this is the truth, confess it to your fellow late-comers so that they won’t waste the chance at success that you all have. Tell the truth, and make Lucifer proud.”_

Sam smiled at his Brother, relieved that Dean seemed to be getting over his problem with Sam’s second bond-mate. Lucifer also grinned, before willing a fifth of Whiskey into Dean’s hand, making the man smile before he took a swig, his hand tightening on Cas’s.

 _”Samael, could you do me a favour, please?”_ the gentle voice of the Apostle queried. The Angel’s looked shocked at Kat’s use of the Morning Star’s pre-fall name, while the mortals and spirits, unaware of it, thought she referred to one of his bond-mates.

Lucifer, stepping up to her side, looked both touched AND shaken – no-one, in many millennia, had called him by his given name – and asked in a humble voice what service he might do for her. She whispered that she was uncomfortable with most of the new arrivals, so could he, for safety’s sake, bring her some holy oil? With a breathy agreement, he disappeared in silence.

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When Lucifer got back from wherever he’d vanished to, he’d a vast, full, amphora of ancient oil with him, carrying it gingerly so it didn’t break and spill the precious contents. Kat, rising to her feet and placing a kiss on his cheek in gratitude, taking in the size of it, the amount it must hold, decided to share the wealth. Decanting some into metal containers, she dispatched the loyal Angel’s, with one of their bond mates, to take some to Garth, some to Charlie, and some to the Team Torchwood. She also gave some to Adam, Sam, Kevin and Dean. Now ALL the Human’s they would come into contact with would be safe. And the second wave of Angels knew it too.

With caches of Holy Oil and Matches stashed just about everywhere that she went – including the Helicarrier – Kat and Adam returned to ALMOST usual activities. Having looked over the ten new comers and decided that no way was she keeping them all to herself, Kat sent for Jack, Kevin, Sam, Dean and asked Nick to attend also. Charlie and Garth she also requested be brought. 

When the seven Humans had gathered, courtesy of the original Angel team, she assigned a ‘Thomas’ or ‘Thomasina’ to each one or team – with a rejoiner not to take it easy on them, nor let them get away with anything. The assignments ran as such:-

Raphael (Thomasina Raph) – Sam.

Naomi (Thomasina N) – Dean.

Hester (Thomasina He) – Jack & Team Torchwood.

Rachael (Thomasina Rach) – Garth.

Nathaniel (Thomas N) – Kevin.

Gadreel (Thomas G) – Nick Fury, S.H.I.E.L.D. & the Avengers.

Aziraphale (Thomas A) – Nick Fury, S.H.I.E.L.D. & the Avengers.

Hael (Thomasina Ha) – Kat & Adam.

Ion (Thomas I) – Kat & Adam.

They were introduced as Thomas or Thomasina ____ - until such time as they’d proved themselves loyal.


	14. Chapter 14

With the arrival of so many new Angels, the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents and Avengers to get used to, Kat had all but forgotten her Mother’s ‘little chat’ with the original Angels, and her determined defence of Adam and Kat’s right to plan their own wedding – not be shoe-horned into any old date and place that suited the host.

When it did come to mind again, the couple were stealing a couple of hours of R&R between sorting artefacts at the Hub, running exercises with the newly arrived Angels, and practising her new skills and talents in the strange surroundings of the Helicarrier.

Laying, sprawled on a couch, in their new flat together, Kat was playing with her dwarf hamsters – Zachariah still bit and shit on everyone that held him – when suddenly Adam put the animals back into their cage and took Kat’s hand. Out of the blue, he said _”So, when do you want to tie the knot? The sooner the better for me.”_

With a tender smile, and love glowing in her eyes, Kat looked toward her fiancé, thinking over his question. A look of decision passed over her features as she reasoned _”Next month. It’ll take a bit of time, even with both our families and the Host assisting. I’ll need to organise gowns, Brides maids, Maid of Honour, flowers, etc. You have to sort out Best Man, suits, co-coordinating buttonholes, etc. We’ll need venues for the service and reception, catering, cake, drinks. With all that and our usual commitments, I don’t see less than a month as a possibility.”_

So, the bit firmly between their teeth, the two began – tentatively – to plan. The Hub was too small, likewise the Men of Letters Library. An extraordinary idea struck Kat, and she rang Director Fury, a strange request in mind. With some rapid explanations – and a little gentle pressure – he conceded use of the Helicarriers Meeting Room for the Service, and the Canteen and recreation rooms for the reception. 

That done, and by the Law of the Land, the ship’s Captain should take the service – that meant that Nick Fury would be the Celebrant for the couple – Michael could give blessings. So far, in an hour they had the venues for the service and reception, and the celebrant. Crossing their fingers that their luck held, Adam called the Bunker, and got hold of Kevin, who said that Adam’s brothers were out on a case – Adam asked Kevin to be Best Man, as he didn’t want to choose one brother over another for the role. Kevin accepted.

Fingers re-crossing, Kat called her Mum to see if her sisters would be Bridesmaids – and got a yes, and Dad would ‘give her away’ – more like adopt Adam too. Charlie was delighted to accept the job of Maid of Honour. Next job – guest list.

Collating a list of family and friends that they’d like to attend, they made a second – this one of people that Kat’s being the ‘Apostle’ had led to them knowing – a more formal list of almost duty bound invites, including Torchwood, Avengers, S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents and so on, plus the rest of the chain of bondees. That done, they called Gabriel, Michael and Lucifer for assistance in getting it done from there.

Michael, elated to have some part to play in not just the planning, but the ceremony itself, read the lists and asked a question that blew the young couple’s minds. What about the newly arrived Angels? Would they be invited, and if not, what would be done with them? The two decided that, so long as their powers were weakened and they could be ‘escorted’ by someone with enough strength and character to deal with any funny business, they should be allowed to come. Michael – adding their names and conditions for acceptance, rushed away to get the invites despatched.

Gabriel – perhaps naturally – held out for catering, creating a menu fit for royalty – once he’d been reminded to put a decent selection of savouries to suit everyone’s tastes. With a cheery farewell, he vanished, so pleased with his role that he couldn’t wait to tell ‘His Sammykins’ – a fact that had Adam reaching for his cell to make a fast call to his siblings.

Lucifer noted that there was no entertainment listed for the event and requested that be his job – he had, after all, been the one in charge of the Choirs of Angels before his fall. This granted, he began planning – making mental note of bands and music styles that the two enjoyed. With a Devilish scheme in mind, he bid them farewell and departed to begin his task.

Left with just the flowers, clothes, drinks, and cake, they called in two more Angels. Balthazar was stunned, but pleased to be placed in charge of the drinks for the whole day – reminded that they needed SOFT drinks as well as hard ones – some of the guests were as young as five – and that he’d need to liaise with Gabriel over what would suit the various foods, he popped off, lists already forming in his mind.

Next, they thought flowers, and one Angel almost leapt into mind – when he’d been re-made sane after lifting Sam’s insanity in the aftermath of Hell, Castiel had spent many months as full on, hard core ‘Nature Boy’, following bees, watching butterflies and generally absorbing the beauty of his Father’s work. If any Angel would know what flowers would be good for what colours, it would be him.

When he was summoned, his pleasure at being asked to participate in the planning and organisation of such an event was almost palpable – he was heard to wonder if ‘Dean and Sam would appreciate the chance to enjoy the blossoms’ with him as he studied the varieties and worked out the best ones for colour and longevity. Adam choked on a laugh at the thought of his muscular, gun-toting half-brothers sitting among flowers evaluating them for him. Kat gave him a look, and after Cas left, both dissolved into giggles.

That left only Clothing – for themselves and the whole wedding party – and the cake. It hadn’t been on Gabriel’s list, nor was it yet assigned. They turned their attention to clothes. Shades of purple were chosen, for both the men’s ties and hankies AND the women’s dresses. 

Selecting three shades – very dark violet, mid plum, and palest lilac, they were about to separate to embark on the decisions about styles and designs, when the subject of the cake arose again – WHO was going to organise it, and what shape, size, colour etc. did they want? It was as they were debating this thorny issue that the first reply came in – from Tony Stark. He and his ‘plus one’ Pepper Potts, would be delighted to attend the nuptials. Was there anything they could supply to assist with the event?

Without so much as asking Adam, or thinking much about it, Kat dumped the responsibility for the wedding cake on his armour-covered shoulders. After informing him it should be square – easier to cut neatly, and a variety of types in the different layers – not everyone LIKED dark, rich fruit cake – she informed him of the colours for the wedding - the three purples, and that they wanted no advertising, or too much cutesy crap on it - a few horse shoes, a couple doves, a bride and groom – she thanked him and rang off.

Deciding how many should be in the wedding party posed another interesting question. Kat – nor Adam, wanted Kat’s sisters, as Bridesmaids to make the walk to or from the ‘altar’ alone, so they got crafty. With Kevin and Charlie set to walk out together – Maid of Honour and Best Man, If Dean and Sam were Grooms Men, they’d be there to accompany Ellie and Tammy. This would also put them in a rather unique position, having nothing but be there for Adam (and to a lesser degree, Kevin) to do, they would, after the ceremony, be free of responsibilities after they’d taken the girls back to their parents. That would also help balance of males to females in the group.

By tradition, in a church wedding where Kat came from, the Bride and Groom left the Church first, followed by the Maid of Honour and Best Man, then the Brides Maids, with escorts if they had them, in age order (Ellie and Dean, then Tammy and Sam), the Groom’s Father escorting the Bride’s Mother, then the Bride’s Father with the Groom’s Mother. The rest of the guests came out as they would. But this would be aboard the Helicarrier, with no real ‘procession’ in or out, except crossing the room to where Director Fury would be waiting. 

Director Fury, and all other invited Agents, Like Phil Coulson and Maria Hill, would be in S.H.I.E.L.D. Dress uniform, all on duty Agents would be in regular uniform. The Avengers, if any came, could wear whatever formal outfits they chose. They knew that at least Iron Man was attending. 

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In that first week of planning, when not busy with her ‘usual’ duties, Kat could be found up to her elbows in fabric samples and colour charts. With the rough ‘deep violet’ for the longest, under layer of the three tier dress, Kat went for a rich satin - two inches longer than the next, mid plum colour layer, which reached mid-calf on her. The plum was of a soft, delicate silk, this layer again, two inches longer than the outside, palest layer. This layer, palest lilac, was of sheer voile, see-through and floaty. 

The dresses, which were all matching, but the maids had slightly paler gowns, were gently cinched in at the waist, with three thin, spaghetti straps over each shoulder, and a ‘swag’ of matching voile over the arm, from just in front of the armpit either side, wrapping loosely around the biceps, and fastening at the side of the zip at the rear. For Ellie and Tammy, their innocence dictated a raised swag, demure and covering. Charlie, well over the age where sex was a mystery had a lower hanging swag, Kat’s, displaying an emergence from innocence to burgeoning womanhood had a swag somewhere in between.

Gladiator sandals, in matching colour stripes with low heels, on their feet, the girls would wear flower coronets and carry posies (Kat would carry a bouquet) of purple orchids, carnations and delicate gypsophelia. The men’s buttonholes would be in the same flowers. Kat would wear a veil of palest lilac voile, going from her shoulders in the front, up and over her head, then draping softly down to form a small train behind her. The seamstress’s sketches pleased her, and she grinned, her smirk fading when she remembered the size and impressiveness of the guest list. 

Adam’s free time was spent with his Best man, grooms men, and Father-in-law-to-be, organising suits, style, the same dark violet colour for them all, and the spread of hanky and tie shades. His own tie and hanky would be of the palest lilac, like Kat’s veil, her dad and Kevin’s would be of the mid-purple plum, while Sam and Dean would have deepest violet, in keeping with the colours of the girl’s gowns.

Replies were flooding in, Tony’s being followed in rapid order by Gwen (and Rhys) Steve Rogers, her four Uncles, and their respective wives and offspring, Agents Coulson and Hill, Natasha Romanov, Thor and Bruce Banner were all accepting – and, hearing about the ‘Angel minders’ being needed, Natasha, Steve, Thor, Phil and Maria were all prepared to be ‘attached’ to one of Heaven’s miscreants. Kat was almost overwhelmed.

Also accepting were Toshiko, Ianto, Jack Harkness, Kurt Wagner and Professor Xavier – all but Jack and Kurt offering to be Angelic Chaperones too. Jack wanted to bring the renowned Martha Jones as his ‘plus one, while Kurt requested permission to bring another young mutant, Kitty Pryde, aka Shadowcat, with him. Agreement was given and pleasurable anticipation built.

This left two Angels un-chaperoned, and talking it over with Gabriel and Lucifer, solutions were found. Michael, under advisement from Gabriel, went to heaven and spoke to one of the spirits that he intended to bring down ‘for the day’. With the situation explained, and a steely, determined look in her eye, he was told to ‘Sign me up, none of those feathered felon’s going to spoil the day, not on my watch.’ Ellen was decisive.

Meanwhile, the other two Archangels went to see a certain dead Doctor in Cardiff – they had a bargain to offer him. Owen was reluctant – he didn’t do weddings, didn’t want to attend, but he had a re-think when he heard what the two were offering. Go along to the wedding, escort an Angel, and, once the Ceremony and celebrations were over, they’d bring him back to life properly – he could have his date with Tosh! It was the offer of a lifetime – a deathtime. Cautiously, Owen agreed.

Sitting down with the couple and his Arch-angelic brothers one afternoon, they tried to pare up the second wave of Angels with the volunteer chaperones. After some debate, they allied them thus:-

1) Raphael and Thor – the Archangel and the Demi-god should match one another pretty well.

2) Naomi and Professor Xavier – If she tried any of her mind games on him, she’d get nowhere.

3) Hester and Phil Coulson – Her main problem had been anger at Castiel, Phil would be prepared.

4) Rachael and Ianto Jones – the mild mannered and polite Torchwood agent was more than eye candy.

5) Hael and Owen – Owen, already being dead, had nothing to fear from her threats of Angelic vengeance.

6) Nathaniel and Toshiko Sato – the charming Torchwood geek would be a match for the gentle Angelic clerk.

7) Gadreel and Maria Hill – the tough Agent would be able to hold her own against the diminished powers of the bad boy turned good.

8) Rebecca and Steve Rogers – Captain America would have no problems with the naïve Angel, and his old fashion manners would help her be calm.

9) Aziraphale and Natasha Romanov – the Russian master assassin would – with Holy Oil dipped weapons, be certain the Angel could not disrupt things.

10) Ion and Ellen Harvelle – the fiercely maternal spirit would not let the Angel put a single THOUGHT astray that might blight the wedding of these two.

Each pair would be invisibly bonded to their partner, and each Angel would wear a special ‘watch’ that muted their powers to practically zero. The watches would only be able to be removed by the person that put them on – Lucifer removed all that he placed, etc. The pairings set out to place a strong minder with a strong Angel – matching strengths as best as they could. Michael crafted the watches, the delicate Enochian etchings on each more than a match for the Angelic might they restrained.

The chaperones, informed early on of the Angel they were ‘requested’ to accompany, were also forwarded a small file about them – including a recent picture – so that they could get to know the character and characteristics of their possible partner. Thor made sure Mjolnir was polished and ready should it be needed.

When Sam found that Thor had accepted the invite to the wedding, he wondered, nervously, what the Demi-god would make of his having used Mjolnir – if he ever found out. Gabriel had never known, until then, that Sam had even SEEN the hammer, never mind lifted it, but was pleased to discover he had. Murmuring playfully that his ‘adopted brother’ Thor could ‘go snog Raphael’, as he had his own wielder of the ‘Hammer of the Gods’.

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During the second week, they all had fittings, the females going well, nothing needing altering for them. When the guys went for fittings – had to get those sexy butts emphasized, right girls? – Kat’s mind linked to Adam’s (a new skill – she hadn’t done this before) – just as he pulled up his suit pants, seeing through his eyes his jersey boxer clad package – putting a rosy glow on her face as Gabriel tapped at the door and wandered in. He needed no second guess to know precisely what had put that look on Kat’s face – he may or may not have been spying on Sam in similar ways.

When Adam caught up with Kat in the Hub Archives later that day, she turned a beautiful shade of vermilion and turned away, towards the shelves, snagging another artefact and starting to catalogue it – Adam was baffled by her avoiding looking into his eyes, and knelt beside her, slipping a cool hand to her forehead to check for a fever as her colour mounted. Biting her lip, and watching his expression from the side of her eyes, Kat confessed to discovering a new talent – seeing through his eyes – as he’d pulled up his suit pants.

Adam, half embarrassed and half relieved – he’d been imagining much worse – leaned in towards her, and whispered direct into her ear _”Did you enjoy the view?”_ Kat, blush now threatening blood supply to the rest of her body, nodded. _”Good, only two more weeks until it won’t be MY eyes you’re looking through, and I can’t wait.”_ With an inarticulate sound of embarrassment, Kat fled the room, and hid in the ladies bathroom. Grinning, Adam went to see if Ianto had any coffee made – he had a feeling his fiancée might be some time.

When, eventually, Kat returned, she was quiet – too quiet, noticeably so. Normally, once she’d gotten to know someone she’d be chattering away with them, vocal as a newscaster with six international disasters to report. Now, post embarrassment – thank you, Adam – she barely said a word, murmuring a quiet ‘Hello’ or ‘Thanks Ianto’ when given coffee – monosyllabic to the point of near silence. 

Adam grew concerned…..concerned enough to try something he’d not attempted before – he tried to reach Kat through a mind link. He was successful to some degree – he reached her, he knew he had, he could hear another voice speaking to her, hypnotically, in a strange accent Adam didn’t recognise. When he looked into Kat’s eyes, they were blank, empty. A vacant look in them that panicked Adam into calling for the Angels.

This close to the wedding – just two and a half weeks away – and with the arrival of so many new Angels – more than the original number – it was ….a coincidence that troubled Gabriel and Michael. Dad only knew that many of them were capable – more than – of not only choreographing, but planning, an act to attempt to change the future – to the benefit of themselves, of course. It was while they were still doing such tests and prying ‘from a distance’ – so as to not tip the guilty off – that the second hint of disaster announced itself, via a phone call from Penny.

Though she was far off with the Prophet, keeping Kevin well fed and safe, Penny – in her sleep – had been contacted by the Seraphim Babs’A’Neadl – one of the Seraphim’s watching over the second wave of Angels that would – wanted to – be around the Apostle. The message she bore was important enough that Penny, as soon as she had shaken enough traces of sleep off, grabbed for the phone – time differences not troubling her – the news was grim and lives were on the line. The Seraphim had detected the beginnings of a plot which, should they fail to halt it, would threaten the very soul bond that the young couple’s up-coming Nuptials were based on, in a way that would likely kill one or both of them.

Penny had first come to the Angel’s attention when, some years before, she, her husband, and their four grown children had had a string of bizarre accidents and disasters track their every move. From the shock collapse of a barn – nearly killing one of the sons, to her husband dying in an impossible tractor accident, her youngest son being diagnosed with a serious heart condition – in his early forties – to an accident where her daughters newly shod horse - it’s shoe nails slightly proud of the surface as is always the case – stomped on her foot, the nails tearing a twisting gash into the upper side of her foot, near the toes.

The wound – promptly treated though it had been – had festered and become infected, leading to surgery to treat an abscess that had formed there. That operation had been successful, and a new kind of dressing – one that used gentle vacuum suction – was applied to keep the wound drained while it healed. The third time the dressing was changed the fresh one was improperly applied, and it slipped, the suction causing a second abscess to form, close to the first. A second operation was required to treat the new abscess, meaning that twice inside of four months Penny was under the surgeon’s knife.

It was during this time that a prayer – a subconscious plea for assistance in this troubled time – was heard by the kind Inias, who came down and looked into the goings-on at the family farm. He discovered that, for whatever reason, a Demon had attached itself to Penny’s family, and was amusing itself with some basic Demonic tricks to make the Humans squirm and suffer. Calling on Gabriel to aid him, they freed the family from the Demon, and, in gratitude, Penny promised to aid them should they ever need her to. Penny, now a few years on, was overjoyed to be able to, in part, repay the kindness and help given her.

 

This message, coming through at stupid o’clock in the morning as it had, was important enough to bring the whole Chain of Bondees together as it had only twice before – Gabriel transported Penny there to give her recitation in person. Penny reported that the Seraphim, Babs’A’Neadl, had caught part of a communication between Metatron and one of the newly arrived Angels. It gave clues to, but no details about, a collaboration between himself – Metatron – and a female Angel that, considering her past relationship with the scribe, really should have known better.

The message she had caught hinted at an attempt to influence the loyalties of the Apostle – before the wedding. Seemingly Adam had heard a part of it. Time was needed – they had to have more facts – but there was so little before the wedding that – behind her back – the rest of the chain agreed to keep up the act of ignorance for the rest of week, see if, between themselves and the Seraphim, they could figure out what the threat was.

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The penultimate week before the wedding –week three of planning - and all the outfits – gowns and suits – were almost complete, save for minor, final, last minute alterations – the devil’s in the details, right? - And Kat began to notice a few things that didn’t make sense.

Adam, Gabriel, Sam, Dean, Kevin - in fact ALL the bondees – seemed to be paying even more attention to her than usual. Odd phone calls and visits where before they weren’t as often, Adam practising initiating mental links with her. But more than that, she was losing track of time for odd periods – sometimes an hour, sometimes just a few minutes – and she’d no idea what she’d done during the time, but she often looked different after.

The most dramatic, and frightening, of those memory lapses was when she came to awareness of where she was, to find it pitch black, freezing cold, and soaking wet – she was outside, on the roof of a sixteen story building, toes gripping the edge of the guttering, and wearing nothing but thin black Lycra leggings, a plaid bustier, and pancake make-up. 

Adam’s voice was ringing frantic and loud in her head as the whole chain of beings arrived on the roof around her, Adam instantly hauling her into his arms and holding her tightly. Gabriel snapped warm, dry pyjamas onto her chilled body, thick, fluffy slipper-boots onto her feet and a winter duvet wrapped around herself and Adam as he stood, desperately trying to reassure himself she was safe. Michael snapped them all into the safety of the couple’s Angelically enlarged and heated flat whilst Lucifer summoned hot drinks for all the mortals. Adam declared _**”ENOUGH!”**_

Warming up a bit now that she was indoors – securely nestled on a large, comfortable couch under a mound of blankets and duvets with Adam – Kat noticed that, from wherever in the world they’d been brought, all of them were in a similar state of ill-conceived and unlikely garb. The vision of all three of John Winchesters sons in Plaid Leotards and Jeggings – and nothing else – now seared for all eternity into her mind – was one tip-off that something was going on, as was the decisive, firm, commanding way her fiancé had announced ‘Enough’.

 _”Okay guys. What’s going on? And don’t lie to me and say nothing. I KNOW something’s up. You think I’ve not noticed the extra attention? The phone calls, visits, mind-links? Spill, or I start to investigate myself.”_ Adam sighed, and took Kat closer into his arms, linked his mind to hers, and let his memories of the past weeks odd happenings – and that message – flow through so Kat could read it for herself.

Kat, now seeing through Adam’s eyes and feelings what she’d said and done – including that which she didn’t recall – was suddenly hit by a wave of nausea as previously blocked memories of actions of hers she was unaware of became known to her. She broke down, crying hysterically as she remembered an insistent, hypnotic voice demanding she put her cat, Eowyn, and her dwarf, Angel-named Hamsters, into a sealed area with no hiding spaces. Recalled how furious the voice had been as it demanded her put them back in their cage as Eowyn ignored her tiny friends, laying still as they climbed all over her.

Nausea washed over her again as she recognised the voice of ‘Marv’ – the Human name Metatron had gone by, so hypnotically persuasive, warmly smarming as he instructed her powerless mind, her body responding despite her own orders. But he was in Jail – all the way in the deepest realms of Heaven – how could he possibly be controlling her from there? With a frigid blast of remembrance, she recalled how one of the second wave of Angels had paused at her side one morning, gifting her with a pendant ‘to give her the blessings of Heaven’.

She’d not thought much of it at the time – it was just a trinket, after all – but now she had to wonder if it wasn’t something more, and, tearing it from her neck, threw it away from her, Michael, in front of her, caught it. Holding Adam closer as she delicately, carefully, linked her mind to the whole chain to show what she’d just remembered. Michael examined the pendant – ironically a St. Christopher, Patron Saint of Travellers, thought to watch over believers as they travel – detecting the link emanating from it to its creator, far off in another dimension.

Silence reigned for all of ten seconds before, with the fury of Heaven’s most Righteous, Michael summoned the female, Lucifer and Gabriel moving as one to block, trace, and break the connection – severing the link and therefore protecting the Apostle, her mate, the chain, and the whole pyramid of power from there down. 

When she arrived, Naomi was taken by surprise – Metatron, in their conversation a few moments ago hadn’t warned her that they were compromised – indeed he’d been full of confidence that, between the spell on the Apostle and the spell on the dwarf hamsters linking them to the grace of the Angel whose name they bore, the next time she was coerced into loosing them – with her Mother’s dog this time – the dog would devour the hamsters, killing the Angels the represented – so arriving to find a fully informed, hale and hearty, complete chain of bondees awaiting her was unexpected to say the least. She rapidly found herself in the very next cell to Metatron.

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The rest of the third week was a whirl of food and drink tastings, suggestions, requests and ideas from all over the place. Indeed it got so convoluted that just trying to do an ordinary day’s work was becoming something of a memory. That’s when Adam had an idea, and got hold of Charlie right away. When she heard what the situation was like, and Adam’s solution, she threw herself into the plan whole-heartedly. She enjoyed herself, possibly a bit too much, cos-play and LARPing were fun, but this was more – this was a CHALLENGE.

Adam’s idea was simplicity itself, really, and Kat loved that her best friend and her fiancé cared enough to work that hard to help her. The plan consisted of the ‘Maid of Honour’ coming to stay with the couple to help sort out last minute details, helping to prevent too much interfering with their daily schedules, traipsing back and forth to the Hub with them, making note on wedding details while they worked etc. – at least, that was the story.

The real plan was that, once at the Hub and safely isolated in the archives with the artefacts, Kat would become Charlie, and Charlie Kat, so that when anyone came by to discuss wedding things ‘Kat and Adam would talk to them, while Charlie continued to fiddle with the artefact in hand at the time – that was the plan, and it worked for the first few hours – if the real Kat had a point to make on the subject at hand, she’d merely project it into Adam or Charlie’s mind. Kat actually managed to do a full day’s work since the planning of the wedding began.

The days of week three continued in similar vein, the three heading to the archives by eight in the morning, leaving again at four. By leaving mid-afternoon, they still had a couple of hour’s business time in which they could carry out any wedding assignments that still needed attending to. Charlie, finding herself in a city where a science-fiction t.v. series was recorded, went total fan-geek and toured the filming sites when not working with the future Mr & Mrs Milligan. She even bought a model T.A.R.D.I.S. for Dean. 

Periodically they’d sneak off from the archives to amuse themselves in the gun range, or work at computer skills with Toshiko on the Hub’s mainframe – Charlie showing Tosh a weakness that she hadn’t been aware of even while learning some advanced compu-tech from an alien device Torchwood had intercepted over a decade before and integrated into their own systems. Charlie and Tosh went into geek overload as they aggravated Owen unmercifully about how he didn’t understand computers any better than women – Charlie also hit on Tosh, just to see how Owen would react. A thought occurred to Kat, and she began a secret, private list of preparations and planning her own ‘wedding day surprise’.

With the pressure of the whole Metatron / Naomi betrayal situation cleared up, and the discovery of how alike Kat and Charlie were by nature, the rest of week three drifted by in a haze of dusty artefacts, carefree laughter, and secret, playful, scheming.

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The week of the wedding started in calm serenity – the Angels, Archangels, and Stark had everything in hand, Fury had been in touch at least once a week to report on the preparations aboard the Helicarrier for the festivities, and told how the Archangel that seemed to be in charge of the Reception – Gabriel – had already enlarged the canteen (supposedly to allow the crew to ‘get used’ to the larger dimensions, though Fury suspected a trick, it was done now.)

One surprise was when a call came in from Pepper Potts – Tony Stark’s girlfriend – offering Stark Tower as an assembly and dispersal point. The idea had much to Commend it:-  
1) It was easy to locate.  
2) It would make transporting everyone to the Helicarrier Angelically much easier.  
3) It would soothe Fury’s concerns over everyone knowing the Helicarriers whereabouts.  
4) Kat wanted to try on an Ironman Suit and they were all there.  
As the week passed and it got down to only a couple of days to the wedding, nerves finally began to show, and Kat got a little…snarky…with EVERYONE. When Jack said the wrong thing, she gave him a few hundred volts of electric, Owen’s teasing her got his skin turned a beautiful shade of violet. Ianto’s beloved coffee maker was turned into a Victorian flat iron when Kat burned her tongue on her coffee. They began to count the hours until the service. 

The last straw came in the form of a cheeky text from Dean who lived to regret his sauce when Baby was turned into a real, furry, four-legged Impala, with him sat astride it, Sam not having been in the car when he sent his message, His phone vibrated as the words ‘Ride ‘em, cowboy’ played across the screen.


	15. Chapter 15

On the Friday night, Gabriel – in keeping with the tradition that the Bride and Groom don’t see one another until the service on the day – took Adam to his half-brothers in Lebanon, Kansas, even as Inias, Samandriel and Lucifer rounded up the Brides female guests and took them to the flat to get ready for the hen night. 

While Linda oversaw Ellie and Tammy’s getting ready, Charlie and Kat giggled their way through changing into tastefully decadent little numbers that were modest, yet alluring. That done, they left for a club that Gwen had arranged to host the event. She and Tosh were already there when Kat and co arrived. A slight commotion in the doorway caught their attention, the crowds parting to reveal Lady Sif, Maria Hill, and Natasha Romanov making their way in – towards them.

With the drinks – hard and soft – flowing and the tables of ‘snacks’ laid out, the small private party was about to get under way when Pepper arrived with a large package in her arms and a smile on her face. Setting the parcel down, she embraced the soon-to-be Mrs Milligan. Kat screamed with laughter – as did the rest of the guests that understood the reference – when the box was opened to reveal a selection of ‘Bride-in-Training’ and ‘L plate’ gags – a gift from the Ironman to ensure the party went with a swing.

While they’d been changing – loosely phrased – Kat had given Charlie a gentle ‘hands off my sisters’ and had said jokingly that her Mother was fair game. Laughing, Charlie agreed. But something gave Kat a bad feeling, and when Charlie was slightly plastered, she DID start flirting with Kat’s Mum, only for Linda to flirt straight back. Kat swore under her breath when a muttered ‘Christo’ turned her Mum’s eyes a dark, inky black.

Kat, not taking her eyes off her Mum, silently entreated Michael to come and save his ‘hymns and musicals’ partner from Demonic Possession. He arrived, smote the Demon within leaving Linda safe, and wiped a few selected memories, before disappearing again.

Michael had been talking to Mick – Kat’s Dad – when Kat’s urgent message came in, and he disappeared without a word, reappearing minutes later with a slightly grim look on his face, Mick instantly asked if everything was alright. Sam and Adam had noticed the Archangel’s brief absence, and his troubled look upon return, wandering over to see what had called him away.

Lucifer and Gabriel, along with Dean, were feeling a prickling along their bonds from the Archangel and the Bride and wanted to know what was going on – with more males gathering – Humans and Angels, Michael let on the emergency call to the Hen party, the Demonic possession of the Brides Mum, and his actions while there, letting slip that the Demon had been Ruby. Sam’s reaction to the Demon’s name baffled Michael – surely the Winchester boy COULDN’T know her?

 _”Sam, you act as though you know the Hell-born slut, DO you?”_ Michael was trying to determine the reason for the sudden dramatic change in mood, from happy to …..Self-contempt ….fear and loathing? He wasn’t sure, but one thing was certain, the bitter, resentful look Gabriel sent him was as telling as Sam himself was.

Sam, face paler than ever, eyes locked on his shoes, and shoulders slumped was the very image of defeated self-contempt as he quietly confessed _”Yes, she’s the one that got me hooked on blood.”_ Michael flinched from this reminder of the other’s unholy actions, earning himself hard glares from Dean, Gabriel and Castiel. Lucifer, his Archangelic hearing letting him hear what was said before he actually got to them, also gave Michael a hard look as he stood close beside his former vessel. Michael, making an excuse, turned to leave, only for Mick to ask after his wife, effectively stopping him. 

Perhaps it’s understandable that this had a dampening effect on the ‘stag night’, so maybe it’s just as well that mere moments later the doors to the room opened and in came Tony Stark, followed by Bruce, Steve, Clint, Phil, Nick Fury, Thor and the warriors three.

Michael bridled when he heard orders for changes to décor, food and drinks coming from the new arrivals. Striding over, he demanded to know by what authority they were ordering changes – Tony eyed him as he revealed _”I just took on the bill for this evening’s shindig, so by my own authority, Feathers.”_ this did not sit well with the Archangel.

However. Before they could debate the issue further Adam appeared and gave the okay to the changes and reassure Michael that he didn’t mind. Telling Michael to relax, asking how he did best, when he was told an Angel’s best form of relaxation was for their wings to be groomed, Adam called for one of Michael’s siblings to do it for him. He also thanked the Archangel for helping his soon-to-be-Mother-in-law. This confused the new arrivals but they let it pass.

With renewed vigour – and one Hell of a lot more food and drinks – the party restarted, A’ la Stark. 

Soon, the Stag Party had devolved into two distinct groups – The Partiers, including the Groom, one of the Groomsmen, The Ironman, Hawkeye, Gabriel, Lucifer, Thor, Balthazar and The Warriors Three. The other group – The ‘What-the-Hell-am-I-doing-here group’, were quieter, more inclined to talk.

While the partiers got drunk, danced, showed off, and – unfortunately for some – sang karaoke, the quiet group talked and got to know one another better. This group included the two Michaels, Inias, Samandriel, Kevin, Steve, Bruce, Phil, Nick Fury and Sam. Among other things they wanted to find out a few of the anecdotes of Kat’s childhood – Mick, as his family called him, didn’t let much on, being one of the less talkative of the quiet group. 

Both parties broke at midnight because of the early start for the wedding the next day.

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When the alarm on Kat’s phone went off at 7 am next morning, no-one really expected her to hear it, but Kat, nervous and excited as she was, had been up for some time already. She took a long hot shower, trying to relax so she could have breakfast without vomiting.

The female contingent of the wedding party were comfortably ensconced in Stark Tower – Tony had allocated an entire floor to the bridal party while the males got ready at the Men of Letters Bunker in Lebanon. ‘Angel Air’ would bring them to the Tower, then the Helicarrier from there when they were ready. Other guests were suiting up first, before arriving at the Tower for transport.

Kat, hair done and face delicately made-up was lounging on a couch in her robe when Gabriel banged on the door and announced she’d half an hour before they left for the Helicarrier. With a startled, disbelieving squawk, Kat leapt to her feet, tripped on the trailing end of her belt and landed hard, and painfully, on her ass. Her yell of _**”GABRIEL!**_ answered by a swish of feathers as the culprit took off in an undignified rush, vanishing faster than cigarette smoke in fog.

Meantime, Adam and Kevin were running through their speeches, and making certain the Prophet had the foresight to remember the rings. Sam was sat with them, offering opinions on the speeches and possible word changes for parts. Dean took charge of getting them all fed – and supplying Dutch courage.

The Bride, her yell of distress answered by her Mother and Charlie, was being assisted into her gown, the swag sleeves being fluffed and ruffled, where they rounded her arms. Kat didn’t like her lower arms – she always wore long sleeves usually – and had wondered about them being on show now, but a solution was put forward. 

Fingerless gloves. Old style evening gloves that, like a plaster cast over a broken wrist, had nothing over the fingers or thumb, just a band of fabric round the palm, then they rose to the elbow. Made of the same pale lilac voile as the veil and dress outer, it was the perfect solution, and Kat pulled them on happily. When Charlie went to ‘gown up’. Kat practised the duplication and levitation tricks she’d be rehearsing – she had a sneaky plan for her soon-to-be-half-brothers-in-law. 

At 9:30 exactly, five Angels arrived and took the Bridal party to the small side room set aside for their use until the ceremony – the Host whizzed off to fetch more people while Phil gave them a basic run down of the plans for the day, so far as Fury had been able to ascertain. 

By the time 10:45 rolled round, everyone was aboard the Helicarrier and settling in to their seats – the musicians had been snuck aboard in secret so no-one, not even the happy couple, knew what Lucifer had organised for music.

A loud bell sounded at 11:00 sharp, and the meeting room doors swept open, to admit the Bridal party, for the first time in millennia an honest to goodness Choir of Angels sang, welcoming the Bride into the presence of her Groom. Kat and Mick, with great dignity, and even greater nerves, made their steady way to where Director Fury stood.

 _”We are gathered here today to witness the joining in marriage of this man, Adam Milligan, and this woman, Kat Hardy. If any person here present know just cause or impediment why these two should not be joined in marriage they are to declare it.”_ Silence reigned for the whole of the five minutes that Fury held pause for anyone to speak, no-one moved, no-one even breathed – it seemed as though even the mighty rotors of the engines stilled so as to not disrupt the moment. Then Fury spoke again.

 _”Adam Milligan, will you take this woman to be your lawful wedded wife? Will you honour and protect her, love and cherish her, so long as you both shall live?”_ Adam, showing no signs of nerves or hesitation, answered immediately, clearly _”I will.”_

Adam’s certainty settled Kat’s nerves and stilled her trembling knees, so when Director Fury turned to her, and asked _”Kat Hardy, Will you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband? Will you love and comfort him, honour and keep him, so long as you both shall live?”_ with her eyes fastened on Adam’s and love shining in them, Kat answered clearly, decisively _”Yes, I will.”_

Asking for the rings, which Kevin nearly dropped from his nervous state – he was more nervous than the Bride or Groom – Nick took them in his hands before he spoke once more. _”Adam, take Kat’s left hand in your left hand and repeat after me ‘I give you this ring as a sign of our marriage. All that I am I give to you, all that I have I share with you. Until death do us part.’”_

Adam did as bid, sliding the ring up Kat’s ring finger, kissing the woven silver, gold and iron band into place. Director Fury turned to look at Kat, repeating to her _”Kat, take Adam’s left hand in your left hand and repeat after me ‘I give you this ring as a sign of our marriage. All that I am I give to you, all that I have I share with you. Until death do us part.’”_

Kat, taking hold of Adam as directed, said _”I give you this ring as a sign of our marriage. All that I am I give to you, all that I have I share with you. Until death do us part……permanently.”_ Pushing his ring onto his finger, she kissed it tenderly into place, grinning suddenly as a line from a My Chemical Romance song slipped through her mind, and she sent the lyric to Adam, via their bond. Adam smiled too.  
As they kissed, the couple were bathed in a beautiful, bright, golden white light, so bright it almost blinded onlookers. When it faded again, the two were marked by glowing patterns around their necks – almost like luminous tattoos. High up, directly beneath the chin, the pattern of Enochian sigils and knots circled their throats like necklaces.

They gasped, and reached tentative fingers, each to the other’s mark, an exquisite feeling of unity and togetherness binding them closer than they’d ever been. When their fingers touched the mark on the others throat, a rush of the other’s feelings washed over them as if they were their own. The marks fading, dulling to a pale, shimmery, golden glow, not quite unnoticeable, but not as eye-catching as at first.

Then, signing the register, the two linked arms and walked sedately to the door of the meeting room, ready to lead the ‘grand procession’ to the mess hall and recreation room that had been, temporarily, turned into the reception venue. They were ready to get started as man and wife.

There, in the ‘reception room’ were rows and rows of tables and chairs, all set out in the triple purple colour scheme, flowers and balloons on every table. Against one wall stood a trestle table almost audibly groaning under the weight of the gifts, against another wall, at 90 degrees to the first stood another table, this one dressed in purple, and bearing a twelve tier wedding cake, iced in three shades of purple, flowers, horseshoes and birds on each tier. On the top tier stood an arch of delicate real flowers, an intricately modelled duplicate of Kat and Adam in full wedding attire standing beneath it, before it, on its step, stood edible, intertwined duplicate triple band rings, just like they now wore.

Kat’s attention was taken from the cake by virtue of being drawn into warm, large arms and held tight – she relaxed when she realised it was Sam, her new half-brother-in-law that held her, Dean soon pulling her from his arms and into his own. Gabriel tapped him on the shoulder and reminded him that the lunch would soon be ready for service and longer hugs would have to wait for later, then he pecked the Bride’s cheek and drew Sam away. Castiel took his place, also laying a chaste, slightly embarrassed kiss on her before leading HIS partner away, Dean complaining about Cas kissing her all the way.

Other guests were lining up to be greeted, and Kat rapidly downed a juice before turning to greet her guests. Parents and Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles – with their children, her cousins – came along, as did the ‘Angel Chaperones’ and their wards, the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents, and Nick Fury 

Then came the Angels, and although seeming puzzled by the actions, joined in with the hugs and kisses going round, even if they didn’t understand why it was being done – Balthazar being tipsy by then kissed Adam as well as Kat, and Zachariah also made the most of this excuse for closeness with the Apostle, which Kat didn’t exactly appreciate. Then came Tony and Pepper, leading the rest of the Avengers – those that hadn’t already passed with the ‘Angel watch’ contingent. Bruce and Steve bashful about kissing a young girl, on her wedding day, when they didn’t know her very well. Kat nearly fan-girled over getting hugs from Thor and Steve – never mind Bruce!

The spirits finished the line – Kate, Mary and John, accompanied by Grampy and Jo, Kat had tears in her eyes when Grampy hugged her – he’d died when she was only nine, and seeing him again made her pretty emotional. Adam was just the same with his Mum and Dad back from the dead for the day. 

During the reception, with Balthazar’s selection of drinks seeming never-ending, things started to get a little out of hand. Someone had evidently decided that, with the Bride such a huge fan-girl of the Avengers, having the iconic weapons of the team on display – kind of a table of honour – would be a good idea. This meant that Mjolnir, Captain’s Shield, Ironman’s Mask, Hawkeye's Bow and other such items were in easy reach of those that were maybe a little intoxicated. Trouble was bound to arrive with such blatant invitations.

Someone, more than a little tanked up, dared their friend to ‘be an Avenger’ and use one of the implements so temptingly on display. It soon escalated from there. A queue of failed Mjolnir-wielders grew as more lined up to try. The Captain’s Shield, An Arrow-less Bow and a Helmet weren’t seen as dangerous at first – Nor was the Hammer – surely Thor was the only one ‘worthy’ of lifting it present? Apparently not.

Kat had been watching the antics of the crowd around the ‘Heroes Table’, and in her slightly sozzled state, decided that SHE wanted to try to lift Mjolnir herself. Taking a careful grip on the shaft, she put her weight behind it, and swung it off the table, almost tripping herself over with its unexpected weight. Startled, she dropped it, right onto her own sandal clad foot. 

With a loud curse, Kat bent at the waist to view her injured digit, Adam appearing from out of the blue, grabbing the Hammer and slinging it over his shoulder to get to his wife’s foot, uncaring of the fact that he also lifted the hammer, and that it may, unguided, hit someone or something. Steve, standing not too far away behind them stuck his hand out in the hopes of diverting Mjolnir – he caught it and went to put it on the table, well aware of the significance of his act, and hoping that not too many people were watching.

Sadly for Captain America, the Apostle’s yell had been carrying, and a good three quarters of the guests had witnessed his action. Sam had been stood at the bar with Thor, confessing to having wielded the mighty hammer in order to save the life of the Best Man – the Prophet of the Lord, killing two others in the endeavour. Thor was just taking in the fact that someone else could wield HIS hammer, when he witnessed three others do so as well. He was uncertain of what to make of this turn of events, while Sam, seeing his half-brother handle it too began to wonder, if, like being a vessel, was a bloodline thing, and using Mjolnir wasn’t the same. Another clue was to come later.

While this had been happening, Kat’s parents had been on deck, taking a respite from the crowd and looking at the breath-taking views from the side of the deck. Also outside, Owen was playing ‘Frisbee’ with the Captain’s Shield, and having thrown it without looking around first, hit the Apostle’s parents in the back, knocking them both overboard, and into a sheer 30,000 foot drop to the ground far below.

Kat had a sudden premonition of imminent danger to her mum and dad, and sent off the closest Angels, Balthazar and Gabriel, to retrieve them. Sauntering guiltily back inside, Owen returned the Shield to the table, but a witness had seen the incident and was making plans of their own for the medic.

Owen had been supposed to be watching Hael when the accident happened, but a quick scout of the surrounding area showed her to be near the scene of the Apostle’s parent’s accident, much farther from Owen than she should have been able to get. Maybe using a dead chaperone wasn’t such a good idea after all.

When they were returned to the carrier, and given stiff drinks to help counteract the shock and chill of the experience, they found a bottleneck developing by the bar – a certain dead Doctor was knees deep in the deck and unable to move. The sound of light giggling from nearby said that the responsible party was probably close at hand – confirmed when Charles Xavier wheeled up to the now distressed man, and clearly said _”Kitty, No.”_

A slight teenage girl, with dark hair and a pretty, mischievous face, stepped out into sight, looking the Doctor over as she stated _”It’s not fun being on the wrong end of someone else’s fun, is it Doc?”_ so saying, she took his hands and lifted him out of his entrapment. Kat decided that it would be a good time to distract everyone with the traditional ‘Bouquet and Garter Toss’. The call went out for all single guests to assemble.

Back in the recreation room, all the single females of marriageable age had gathered in a group in the centre of the room, Kat standing at one end, bouquet in hand. Taking a careful look at exactly where everyone was, she turned her back and threw the flowers over her right shoulder, ‘sneezing’ as she did so, causing the posy to accidentally double into two. These she then ‘aimed’ straight at her new half-brothers-in-law, landing one in Dean’s pint, the other in the crook of Sam’s elbow. Laughter and groans sounded as people saw where they had gone.

When she heard the choked laughter, Kat turned to face the crowd again, identical looks of bewildered annoyance on either ‘future brides’ faces, bemusement or amusement on everyone else’s features, depending on whether they knew the meaning of the flower-toss custom. A chair was brought forward and Kat sat upon it, Adam kneeling before her.

 

Carefully, modestly, Kat draped her gown’s skirt over her leg to expose her garter and no more, Adam, bestowing a kiss on a blushing Bride, gripped the lacy band of elastic with his teeth and gently pulled it down her leg to her ankle, from there off her foot with his hands, tickling softly as he did, making his wife dissolve into a mass of giggles. Straightening, he turned his back to the – now assembled – single males, and readied himself to throw it.

With Adam facing her, and her still seated facing the gathered crowd, as Adam let go of the garter, she ‘sneezed’ again, once more replicating the item in flight, so two garters sailed through the air. Choosing her targets carefully, this time she sent one sliding down Lucifer’s chest to land, bracelet style, around Kevin’s wrist, meaning that the two of them caught it, the second she landed over Charlie’s hand, where it lay over Michael’s on a table, how she’d been showing him something. The second garter had been caught by two well.

A group of Angels and Human’s gathered around the newly-weds, eager to find out why they’d thrown the flowers and garter – what was the purpose? And why did she ‘double’ both objects. No-one believed in the accidental sneezes idea, and neither did they believe that the catching had been random either – even as little as some of them knew Kat, it was just too much like her for it not to be deliberate.

Linda wandered over, congratulating her daughter on the shifty way she’d finagled six weddings rather than the usual two, from the one original. As she explained the traditions – to those unaware of them – of the garter toss and flower throw, and the meaning of it for those that caught them, the ‘brides – to – be’ – the brothers Winchester – groaned in dismay at the idea of being the ‘girl’ in their relationships, while others smiled, frowned, or – in Gabriel’s case, snapped up a candy ring and offered it to Sam.

Suddenly, a thought came to the Bride, and she checked a fact with the Archangel Michael, who confirmed her fears. She called the brothers to her to talk over the fact she’d just affirmed – the spirits of Kate, John and Mary could only come down this one day – and then only by special dispensation from ‘higher powers’ as Michael had put it. If Dean and Sam wanted their parents at THEIR wedding, it HAD to be that same day.

With a hurried resetting of the meeting room to accommodate an instant, double wedding, Nick Fury and Michael set up again to marry off more Winchester offspring. While they did that, Sam and Dean spoke with an emotionally wrecked John and Mary – Kate too, after all, attending the wedding of one of your children is an event in a parent’s life – but all three in one day? It was overwhelming, even for the usually stoic John. He agreed to walk his sons to their mates sides and ‘give them away‘.


	16. Chapter 16

The ‘grooms’ – Cas and Gabe – had taken themselves off to change from choral robes into more suitable attire. Now in hastily created matching suits to their partners, Gabriel and Castiel, however, instead of the dark purple ties and hankies of the other men had candy striped (for Gabriel, of course), who then cleaned and helped his brother into a certain coat we’re all familiar with. 

They opted for young Samandriel and Inias as their ‘Best men’ – if Angels can be called such. The four stood by Director Fury and Michael as they awaited the party of Winchesters – Adam and Kat had PLANNED on sitting this service out, but his brothers had other ideas. Kat, and Adam to a lesser degree, had gotten them into this sudden wedding, so they, to the older two’s minds, ought to be part of it – they were Maid of Honour and Page, Kat’s sisters and Charlie – still in their matched gowns, followed them into the room, to be escorted out by Kevin – another page, Inias and Samandriel. 

But there was one, small problem – the two grooms had no surnames, and couldn’t legally marry without, nor could they use Winchester until after the service. Linda suggested Jehovahson – they were, after all, the creations of God, or Jehovah, so it was no stranger than, say, Stevenson.

John, silvery tracks seeping down his ghostly cheeks, escorted ‘his boys’ to the sides of their mates, unconcerned over the vessel’s gender, only concerned that they be happy – and a single glance at either showed a wealth of evidence to support that hope. Following the lines of the earlier service, interruptions came from a semi-tipsy Balthazar declaring that _”Death can’t part them, they’re Angels, and Grace / soul mate”_ or words to that effect. Lucifer grinned and shushed him.

Kate and Mary, mothers and cousins together, tearfully supported each other through this, second, surprise service, binding in lawful and Heavenly union, for all time, the sons they both loved to the Angels they visibly adored, happier parents there never could be, living or dead.

The reception was re-joined with even greater merriment and celebrations, the second wedding having the effect of greatly increasing the number of Agents off duty, all off duty staff having been invited to join the festivities. After an enforced (by Kat) receiving line, consisting of ALL SIX newlyweds, their parents and parental stand-ins (Michael and Lucifer). The spirits of John, Mary and Kate in the line too.

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With three Archangels, an Angel, as well as three spirits, in the second receiving line, some were nervous of approaching, but not the Brides little cousins. They were more than happy to run up to the ‘Uncles’ they’d met when they visited with Kat, Adam and Kevin earlier in the year. Gabriel was enchanted – and a devoted candy supplier, while Cas, who knew little of children, watched as the three tall, sturdy men, fearless in the face of more than Angels, Demons and Beasts – become little more than interactive toys for the quartet of juvenile females.

When Michael and Lucifer saw how the brothers interacted with the children – who, courtesy of Kat’s marriage to Adam, they would claim as family – and had a mental conversation, a secret one that they would go into at a later date. That’s when the Bride, still one of the centres of attention, did a very peculiar thing. With a familiar-to-some move, her head tilted to one side and all expression vanished from her face, save for the one painted by the light cosmetics she wore for the occasion. Adam cursed richly under his breath as he recognised the signs of a ‘death scene’.

Speaking quickly but quietly to a select few others, Adam, with Gabe, Michael, Sam, and Lucifer took Kat to a room of privacy and quiet while the others he’d spoken to, Cas, Dean, Tony, Steve and Natasha, complete with the Angels they accompanied, distracted the children with a boisterous game of tag.

As Steve ‘chased’ the children, playfully catching Melody, others laughed and smiled, some joining in. When Temperance was tagged, she took a cheeky cheat, and tagged wheel-chair bound Professor Xavier, who, using his incredible mind powers, coerced Ironman into landing nearby and tagged him – one cheat to another.

The game continued with Tony tagging Black Widow, who then, with a few acrobatics, tagged a confused Cas, him being promptly untagged by Jo, who tagged another of the girls, the child bumping into the ‘Table of Honour’, knocking it, and all the iconic objects over – Thor’s Mjolnir landing on Ion – the Angel unamused at not being able to move it, even less so when the five year old, Temperance, wandered over and announced _”I help you mister.”_ before hefting the hammer and tottering off to the demi-god, holding it up to him and asking if it was his. Thor was, at first, bewildered, then took it, smiling at the youngster, agreeing that it was. 

Meantime, in a private interview room, Kat, newly returned to ‘normal’, was clinging to Adam and crying despairingly, the desperate strength of her grip a testament to the heart-break she’d just lived. The three Archangels, after a silent conversation, used a little grace each to try to calm her down. 

It seems that, today of all days, Kat had ‘become’ a Groom anxiously awaiting his Bride at the altar when his own Father had rushed to him, having just taken a call from the Bride’s Father. A lorry had ruptured it’s tyres on the still fractured roads of the city, and, out of control, it had smashed into the Bride’s side of the car as they approached the Church. She was being air-lifted to the nearest large hospital in a desperate battle to save her life. Racing for the medical facility, he arrived just in time to see the heart monitor flat-line.

To witness that devastating scene on her own wedding day, from the survivor’s point of view for the first time, hit Kat harder than anything else could have, and she clung to her new husband, downing the shot of neat brandy she was handed to aid her nerves, then several more as well in an attempt to block out the memory of what she’d seen.

 

As the day wound down, and relaxed interaction became the watchword for the revellers, some precious – if unusual – photos were taken. It turned out that, among others, Linda was a menace when she’d a camera in her hands, forever taking pictures at unexpected, or inopportune times. So when she saw Hawkeye showing Temperance how to hold his bow properly, her reaction was to laugh and take a snap, before looking round for something else that caught her eye.

Steve and Bruce were in a corner, being their shy, attention evading selves, until the twins came up to them, with Rhonda being brown haired and eyed and Bethany a blue eyed blonde, it made both think of the what if’s of their lives, before the mini-minxes got them playing, and allowing another snap to be taken.

Tony’s attention was captured by the oldest of the quartet, Melody, wanting to try on his Ironman helmet, his help enabled another picture to be nabbed. One endearing photo that came about by accident didn’t feature any of the children – it was the Demi-God of Thunder, Thor, who was holding six of Kat’s dwarf hamsters while the other two looked on from their perch on Mjolnir that did it. The fascination on the Asguardian’s face was a true delight while Raphael seemed almost horror-struck by the large black and white feline now napping on her lap.

Another charming picture came when Linda came upon Charlie – uber fan girl – and Natasha Romanov – assassin extraordinaire – talking at one of the side tables, everything from Nat’s career with S.H.I.E.L.D. to Charlie’s antics with Team Free Earth and a whole lot more, Aziraphale seeming bored until Black Widow put on a small display of her skills, with the Angel as her partner.

Nathaniel, Hael and Rachael, with their partners for the day Toshiko, Owen and Ianto, were debating which couple looked happier when Tosh squeaked in surprise – something furry had just brushed her foot. Looking down, she found Gerard-Ray, one of Kat’s guinea pigs, and she picked him up, nuzzling him gently.

Sam and Gabriel, inseparable now, were sat at a table snacking – Gabriel on candy and Sam on salad of course – when something brushed Sam’s ankle, it was Pippin, Kat’s other guinea pig, and Sam grinned as he scooped him up, sharing his salad with the small rodent, hand feeding it succulent titbits of vegetable while it refused to so much as smell Gabe’s sweets, making him laugh and the Archangel pout. 

Towards the end of the festivities, just as the happy couples were thinking of leaving, Michael stopped everyone with an announcement to blow all others out of the water – Lucifer had just popped out for a few minutes, taking Inias and Samandriel with him, if everyone could wait a few minutes, some last minute guests were about to make a brief appearance.

In seconds the party of Angels were back, one carrying a large case and a bag, the others each with a tiny baby in their arms. Lucifer had taken a copy of the wedding certificate and brought the new Mr and Mrs Milligan’s twin adoptees to them. The Bride’s Mum was in on it and prepared to look after the children for the first week if the parents wanted. The couple said yes please to her as they’d plans.


	17. Chapter 17

During the days following the triple weddings, Kevin, by hasty agreement, went to stay with Kat’s parents – in part to assist with the twins, but mostly to void being resident in the MoL Bunker with TWO honeymooning couples – he may not be nuts deep in a relationship himself, but that didn’t mean that he wanted to be a captive audience to those who were.

The days drifted by like a boat on a river, sometimes drifting by like a slow flowing canal, at others racing by like a canoe hurtling over white water rapids, break-neck speeds over rocks and submerged obstacles. It was during this time that Linda’s attitude began to undergo a subtle shift, changes so tiny even she didn’t see them.

Six days after the ceremonies, Kat called her parents to see how they were coping, finding all going well, decided to leave it until next day to collect the children – it would turn out to be a very good thing they did.

A week after the triple wedding, Thomas G awoke the newly wedded Milligan’s, bursting into the bedroom (ignoring the door as per usual Angel habit) at four in the morning, declaring that the Apostle was needed urgently. Kat, never a morning person, certainly never before sun up, grunted and nestled closer into Adam’s bare shoulder, her own naked arms and upper back visible above the purple silk bedding.

The drapes of the mahogany four poster rustled gently as the Angel’s wings fluttered with impatience. _”Apostle, you are needed urgently. We must depart. Now.”_ Kat, one eye now half open, muttered a quiet _”No.”_ When there was no response, she repeated _”Didn’t you hear me? I said no.”_ lifting Adam’s arm to see his watch, she swore when the time was revealed to her, a scowl darkening her face.

_”Thomas G, you burst into our bedroom, uninvited, at four in the fucking morning, while we’re on our honeymoon. You don’t have the courtesy to knock, you don’t bring coffee or breakfast, and demand we leave without chance to dress or explanation as to why we should. NO, it’s not happening. Stop time if you must, I know you can. Go get me a gingerbread hazelnut latte, Get Adam a *asks Adam what he wants* mocha cappuccino with a pump each of hazelnut, vanilla and almond syrup. I’ll have blueberry crepes with fresh fruit salad and Adam will have a full English breakfast with extra mushrooms. When you come back with it, you’d better be wearing a ‘kiss the cook’ apron and have your wings out. Now go get to work.”_

With no idea what any of the things he’d been told to fetch were, he set off to get information – first stop Castiel, who, obviously, was at the Bunker with Dean, Sam and Gabriel. Once he’d explained his mission to the disbelieving quartet of listeners, he got a telling off from them all, followed by Sam, in sarcastically small words, explaining that crepes were like extra thin pancakes, and you’d make them in a kitchen. He should consult a recipe book. With more insults ringing in his ears, he left to find more information.

Kevin was gasping for air, having choked on laughter by the time Thomas was a third of the way through the tale. By the time he finished, the Asian’s normally olive complexion was a ruddy hue as his mind kept coming up with detailed images of the unfortunate couple as they may have appeared. Calling the millennia old being a variety of colourful names, he advised him to try Starbucks for one of the drinks, and Costa for the other – though cautioned against taking either cup into the other business. With a word of thanks, Thomas left. Kevin called a reminder that the Angel owed him.

Deciding to stick to humans for information – who would know better about their race than they themselves? – He went to a hidden base beneath a city across the Atlantic, on the shores of Cardiff bay. 

After arriving in Torchwood's Hub, and explaining, again, to even more incredulity, the mission he found himself on, and what he still needed to know. The replies were about as enlightening as they were diverse. Owen declared it a ‘delicious heart attack on a plate’, Gwen stated that she had no clue as ‘I’m not from _there_ ’, Tosh said not a word, disgusted with the Angel, but wanting to help,for her young friends sakes. She google searched it, printed the instructions, and slapped the pages into his chest. Ianto and Jack were nowhere in sight.

With one last item to identify, Thomas G turned to the men and women aboard the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, the first people he ran into were Steve and Tony. Asking them what a fruit salad might be, and where one might obtain such a thing, Tony, in typical Tony style, questioned why an Angel that didn’t need to eat wanted to know. With a sigh, The Angel requested everyone assemble so he only needed explain once more.

Once the agents and Avengers were gathered, so many as could be spared from duty, the Heavenly warrior repeated his misdemeanour, garnering rude remarks about the activities of the unfortunate couple at the time and some physically impossible suggestions as to what he should do to / with himself. 

The first comment, unsurprisingly, came from Tony, calling in his usual sarcastically droll way about Angelic manners going to a certain hot underworld in a jet propelled hand basket. Thomas G tried to ignore the cat calls and stay on topic, but it was difficult, especially viewing Hawkeye’s raised brows at the language Natasha was using against the Angel in her native Russian.

Director Fury, while a wide and varied selection of fruits – some the usual, some very much not – were called out, and Steve and Bruce tried to look anywhere but at someone, got on the phone to ‘Team Free Earth’ as Kat lovingly called them, to request assistance with the furore the Angel had caused on his aircraft. Dean and Sam soon arrived with Michael and Gabriel, who’d been with the others when the call for help came in, trying to find out what troubled the Apostle and her mate.

On their arrival – direct in the centre of the meeting – all grew silent as the air sparked with a strange electric charge, and a booming voice shook the walls, lights bursting and glass windows shattering as a jarring, broken stream of harsh sounding syllables thundered through the air, driving the Humans to their knees, hands over their ears in a futile attempt to dim the deafening noise. This was the first sign of how grave the insult issued to the young couple was – the raging response of TWO of Heaven’s mightiest warriors.

The Angel at the centre of the issue stood humbly, hands clenched behind his back, head bowed, eyes cast down as the castigation rained down on him from his eldest brother. Gabriel made a sharp gesture with his hands at the sight of his own mate in such pain, that he was literally on his knees on the floor, blood spilling from all facial orifices and pain making his features white and pinched, instantly blocking the sounds from the mortals. Lucifer and Castiel arrived in response to the pain of their bond mates.

Sam, blood still dribbling from his ears and nose, got unsteadily to his feet aided by his bond mates, and staggered to Michael, residual pain and a slow-building anger toward the Archangel in his eyes. As Michael took in the sight of Sam, Dean just climbing to his feet with Cas’s aid, still dripping blood from his facial orifices, he finally quieted, his eyes sliding slowly over the still-grounded heroes and staff before him, and felt something he’d not much experience of – remorse.

Lucifer muttered one, harsh, biting phrase in the same language, and Michael paled, before making a complicated series of hand gestures and healing the Human victims of his unthinking wrath. While the Avengers and Agents gathered their scattered wits, Castiel and the Archangels got to work repairing and fixing the damage Michael’s unrestrained voice had caused – Fury refused to have his eye healed for some unknown reason, but all else was made right.

Steve, ever the peace-keeper and champion of right, offered to assist with the breakfast – he could make the fruit salad. A silent conversation went on between the Archangels, and they decreed IF, like Steve had, anyone offered aid in his mission, Thomas G could accept, on the understanding that he would owe that person a favour in return. Tony, not about to let this chance slip past him, immediately offered to make the crepes.

With Tony on crepes and Steve making a mouth-watering fruit salad, and Phil and Maria going for the drinks, it only left the Angel the ‘Full English’ for Adam. After witnessing the unfortunate feathered being nearly set the Helicarrier’s kitchen on fire, the brothers Winchester stepped up to the plate to prepare their younger half-brother’s meal, sending the Angel on several retrieval missions for ingredients.

With feathers issued as I.O.U’S, and everything ready, assembled neatly on a tray table, Thomas G was about to depart when Castiel stopped him. _”Brother, you’ve missed something. You need this.”_ and handed him a small piece of folded cloth. Taking it, the other Angel departed, with Sam yelling a reminder to knock on the door before going in.

When, nearly three hours after the initial intrusion, a gentle knocking came to the bedroom door, Kat hurried into a robe as Adam sat up and called for Thomas to come in. They could barely hold back their laughter as into the room came Thomas G, frilly pink pinny scarcely covering his crotch and chest, vivid emerald green script exhorting the reader to ‘Kiss the Cook’, and large, gleaming wings on spectacular display, bearing a tray so full it was rattling as he moved. He looked both adorable and ridiculous at the same time.

Placing the tray on the bed between the couple, Thomas awaited their opinion on his offering, slightly nervous as to its reception. On the tray sat two take out cups of hot steaming beverages, a plate laden with piping hot blueberry crepes and a luscious fruit salad, alongside Adam’s serving plate heaping with bacon, sausages, mushrooms, hash browns, beans, eggs, tomatoes and more mushrooms, a side plate stacked with wholemeal and white toast, a dish of butter pats and a selection of preserves and sauces with it. It was a meal fit for Royalty – or the world’s one and only Apostle and her mate.

Taking a bite, Kat almost moaned with pleasure at how good the crepes were, sweet, rich and thin, with the berry compote having just enough of a tart edge to make it balance like an Angel’s feather on the scales of justice. From Adam’s quiet groans of satisfaction, his breakfast was just as good. Reaching out and taking hold of the Costa cup, Kat knew she was in oral paradise as the sweet yet sharp tones of hazelnut and gingerbread edged onto the latte that they blended with, bringing her to a height of organic pleasure.

Lingering longer than necessary over their very full breakfasts, idly enjoying the toast and fruit salad as they conversed, they made no bones about keeping the Angel waiting yet longer as a long, hot shower together was followed by a casually, unhurried dressing, Thomas getting stiffer and more angst ridden as he waited – his ‘orders’ to bring the Apostle post haste had been clear, and they had been issued nearly five hours before. Finally, the couple were ready and went with the unfortunate Angel.

 

Kat nearly blew a fuse when she discovered that the ‘urgent’ need for her was contact from one of the creatures her new half-brothers-in-law hunted – a fully transformed werewolf! THAT, in her opinion, was not only not urgent, and could most certainly (and a good deal more safely) have been left for daylight and its return to humanity.

Adam, too, had issues with the blatant risk to his wife’s safety. Not only had their Honeymoon been disturbed – on the last night true, but it was still the Honeymoon – but it had been to see a mother fucking werewolf, in full transformation, when not a shadow of its humanity was left. Enraged, and not a little worried for Kat’s future safety, Adam called in Michael and the other Archangels. This needed sorting.

The room fell silent as, embracing his wife, Adam let the whole of the mornings misadventures – including the breakfast shenanigans – drift across the link to Michael. A pin could have been heard to drop it got so silent and still – hardly anyone dared to even breathe with the fury that passed over the expression of Heaven’s mightiest warrior.

Michael turned to the younger Angel once more, reading direct from his mind just what had been happening, the younger opening up to his probing gaze like a book, clearer to see through, to Michael in that moment, than lead Crystal in the summer sun. The trail of orders leading to the initiator was followed to the top. 

Summoning both the faithful and the traitorous, Michael made plain the situation that had befallen the Apostle that morning, and the trail of evidence – taken direct from the gullible Angel’s mind – that lead to the perpetrator. Kat, by now cold, tired of the whole business, and royally pissed off, demanded to know if she and Adam need still be there – when the answer was yes, she insisted a shared seat with her husband and a blanket to snuggle in, along with some coffee each. As her demands were met, six more figures arrived in the room – Sam, Dean, Kevin, Garth, Ellen and Jo – answering the call of the chain. How they got there a mystery to them.

The mystery was solved when Kevin, talking to Garth, remarked that he’d thought Garth was in Hawaii – chasing a Volcano Goddess or some such. Garth confirmed that he’d been after Pele, but an insistent tug on his waist had brought him to wherever-the-hell here was. This set Kat’s mind on instant replay to a time before – months before – when all the bondees had assembled in such a manner at a time when a serious threat was made to one or more of them, gathering them all together for defence.

With this fact confirming the apparent threat to the Apostle, the Angel at the top of the chain of deceit and would-be betrayal was condemned. Aziraphale, seemingly attempting to secure Crowley’s continued existence, now doomed to be smote or exiled for all time. The young Apostle, would-be victim of the plot, knew if it was Adam at risk, she’d go just as far – maybe further – to try to save him, and made a decision that stunned them all.

Kat, still sitting shrouded in blankets and nestled into Adam’s side, bade Lucifer summon Crowley to their presence, when he arrived, in a multi-dimensional demon trap, she had some talking to do, and a decision for Crowley to make that would decide Aziraphale’s fate. While she explained to him, before the gathered throng, what the shamed Angel had planned, Aziraphale watched in silence.

At first, hearing how far his lover was prepared to go to keep him safe, Crowley watched him with growing wonder, before the seriousness of what would have happened if he’d succeeded sank in, and he began to realize how close to destruction all of Heaven , Hell and Earth had come, for his sake. When it had firmly sunk in, Kat put the decision to him.

The young lady, only 18 months after first meeting any of the Angels, now subject of interest to all of Earth, Heaven, Hell and beyond, teetered on the brink of a full-fledged break down. So much happening in such a short space of time was almost too much for the anxiety ridden youngster. But, head high and voice _almost_ steady, she asked Crowley if he would be prepared to bond with Aziraphale. The Angel / Demon bond – just like the Angel / Human bond – was eternal and deep, allowing little to come between the two. Would he take the Fallen Angel to Hell with him, and make a home together there for all eternity? 

The assembled crowd drew a sharp breath – needed or not – as Crowley debated his answer. Would he, effectively, marry the Fallen Angel and stay with him forever? Or would he refuse and watch his lover die at his own Brother’s hand? The wait seemed unending as the Demon battled with his options.

 _”Yes, I will, if he’ll take me.”_ He finally drawled, a sigh audibly rising from the gathering as the Host acknowledged that their Brother living in Hell was, by and large, preferable to his certain death. Kat looked to Michael for information, a silent conversation over how the bond would be formed or work. Lucifer would craft it, binding together a portion of Crowley’s Demon ‘soul’ and Aziraphale’s corrupted ‘Grace’. It would last through Eternity and beyond.

The other new-comers, gathered together and informed that Aziraphale’s fate was easy compared to what it might have been if he’d been successful or if Crowley had refused him. He was to be an example of what to expect if you betrayed the one hope.

Lucifer, working closely with the Seraphim, Babs’A’Neadl, took a service which was, on the surface, much like a Human’s Wedding, but went much, much deeper. As Lucifer spoke each vow, a single strand of Grace or Soul was gathered, and plaited into a tether so strong and profound it was nigh unbreakable, leaving an indelible mark on each of the new couple.

They were bound more closely than any Angel and Demon ever were before. The action had a clear effect on both, making them happier, glowing even, until, in the form of a test, Crowley was removed from the building, Aziraphale instantly becoming a mere shadow of his former self until the Demon King was restored to him again, the two clinging until they were dismissed together.


	18. Chapter 18

As the twins were still only four months old, they didn’t need an awful lot doing for them yet, aside from feeding, changing and winding (a very good excuse for a cuddle and some playing), but still with them, the work learning all things Spectral, Spiritual, Space-related and Spooky, plus being a new wife, Kat found herself with much less time than she’d planned on – Christmas was coming and she’d wanted to MAKE gifts this year, not just buy them. Luckily, her mum came to the rescue.

Linda, not only living in rural Devon, but also back to decent health now, had returned to some of the activities of her own earlier days, nature walks, harvesting the very best from the woods and hedgerows around her, using the bounty to create some of the natural, additive-free treats that her grandparents had shown her how to make. She’d been almost as busy as her daughter, on her behalf.

Linda had been to a local bee keeper and bought a large quantity of organic honey, converting it to mead with natural local spring water and other, necessary ingredients. She’d also brewed some of the wines and preserves that she recalled from her youth. Her freezer was near to bursting with the amount of wild goods and home baking she’d gotten done in advance for the occasion.

She also enjoyed crafting, and hated waste, so she was making small toy animals for all the beings that she’d see over the festive time – she knew Kat was arranging to get ALL the Hardy’s, Winchesters, Milligan’s and Jehovahson’s to the MoL Bunker for the Yuletide. She’d been preparing for weeks. With November on its way out, and December knocking on the door, she was pleased with how many different animals she already had created – they all used an odd sock anyhow, and were, in terms of time and complexity, some of the simplest gifts she’d be giving. They took between 2.5 and 4 hours each. Just a sock, scraps of fabric and some wool and threads. Simple – but effective.

Conspiring with her daughter – and letting her in on the fact that she COULD give home-made gifts as she’d so wanted to – they planned what animals should go to which person, and what of the country crafts would suit that person too, so Linda could package the appropriate amount of each. The list was expansive, as the head count – when Kat had thought to do one, was 30 people, Linda rolled up her sleeves and did more advance baking.

Three days before Christmas, Linda, Mick, Ellie and Tammy – with all their luggage, gifts and food supplies – were transported to the Bunker in Lebanon, ready to work – and play – as the festivities drew near. First thing, after stowing the luggage and gifts in their assigned room, Linda – who had also been assigned chief cook and bottle washer – left Mick with their daughters, setting out to explore the kitchen and see where she’d be based for the coming couple of weeks.

Finding it empty of people but well stocked with dry ingredients, Linda rolled up her sleeves once more, and set to ‘trying out’ the unfamiliar kitchen by making some gingerbread. Boiling together the spices, brown sugar and treacle, she let it cool before beating in the butter and egg, then stirring in the flour and baking powder. Wrapping it in kitchen film, she placed it in the fridge to chill.

Next, she made some rich, short crust pastry and got out some of the home made mincemeat she’d brought with her – matured until it was pleasantly potent – and made a batch of mince pies ready to feed the doubtless ravening horde as they arrived. With them in the oven baking, she sat down with a coffee. Just as she did, Gabriel came to investigate the spicy scents emanating from the kitchen, he joined her in having a drink.

When the mince pies were cooling and the first of the gingerbread cookies in to bake, she told Gabriel – catching him in the act of pinching a still hot pie – that if he was going to remain and take ‘cooks privileges’, he had to cook, and set him to work zesting whole citrus fruits and coring apples, studding both with whole cloves.

With the gingerbread made and cooling, Linda measured confectioners’ sugar and peppermint essence, mixing it into egg white, adding a few drops of green colour to some of it, before kneading it, and stamping out shapes, setting them aside to dry. Gabriel’s interest peeked again – this was going to be candy. This was going to be Peppermint Fondants.

Linda at last took a real break, before she needed to start the preparations for the dinner rush. She went and found her former guest from during the honeymoon, the Prophet, Kevin. As she sat at the table near him, lifting a book and burying her face in it. Curious, he took a look, and found it to be a recipe book older than his own mother was. The woman was craft and cooking crazy – he smiled at the thought of what would happen in a few day’s time.

When, three hours before what might be described as a reasonable mealtime, Linda disappeared into the kitchen, Kevin followed, curious as to what she intended to do. After all, she didn’t know anything of the layout of the Bunker’s kitchen, or of the oven they used. Or so he thought, right up until he walked in through the door and saw the products of her efforts earlier. Then he understood the why she’d ‘vanished’ for those hours when she first arrived, with a grin, he offered help with the meal preparations.

Days slipped by, and the kitchen became a popular drop-in point for the inhabitants of the Bunker, coffee and tea were always available, and usually cookies and mince pies would be around as well. The 24th rolled around almost before they were ready for it. That’s when something happened that triggered a chain of events that shook the Apostle to her foundations.

The brothers got wind of a hunt, just a couple of hours away, a simple salt and burn, nothing to it, back before they were missed. But they were leaving mid-day on Christmas Eve, a day that Linda had been working toward catering for for weeks. Linda promised vengeance in the extreme if they messed up her catering numbers, Gabriel, wanting to keep on her sweet side, promised they would not.

Next morning, 6:30 am, Linda was in the kitchen getting the turkey into the oven, a beef joint already and waiting to join it later that morning, when she was cornered by Thomas G, who practically pushed her into a chair at the table, saying _”Apostle’s Mother….”_ She interrupted, stating her name was Linda, as they both knew, so he should call her that. He countered with the statement _”We both know you’re pregnant too, so why not stop doing things likely to make you miscarry it?”_

A stifled sound came from behind the Angel, and a pair of mugs broke as they landed on the floor, making the pair turn to face the sound. Kat stood there, steaming coffee and broken china around her feet as she gazed, wide eyed, at her female parent. Linda was also stunned, and thought the Angel to be joking, not knowing that they have little concept of Human humour.

Seeing both females baffled and disbelieving his words, Thomas G, real name Gadreel, quietly summoned Michael and Lucifer to the ladies to confirm his suspicions. When it was proved to be right, Linda’s workload in the kitchen was reduced to a much more supervisory level, and Adam, Mick, and the brothers Winchester called to be informed. Changes to the plans needed urgently making, but thanks to all the frozen baked goods Linda had pre-made, it didn’t alter the menu much.

The main change was that others were found to ‘assist’ in the kitchen and let the Apostle’s mother merely supervise, remaining seated most of the time. A team of unmated Angels was organised to cover the necessary chores. Kat, never brilliant with shocks or change, wasn’t taking the news as well as could have been hoped. Her youngest siblings would be younger than her own children – something she’d never even considered happening. She swore at Adam when he suggested it was not such a big deal as she was making out.

Brushing it all aside as a ‘fuss over nothing’, Linda pre-empted the rest of the debate by collecting one of her grandchildren and going to the Library to start handing out presents. She was looking forward to it, if a bit nervous of what fricken Hunters and Angels would make of her hand made ‘sock animals’, and of the other gifts she’d made for her daughter to give.

Starting with the babies, Alfie and Mary – Kate, she offered them, via Mama and Papa, a gift each – a hand-made teddy, with a little lavender in the stuffing to aid sleep – it had always worked on her daughters, after all. With mint green for Alfie and Primrose yellow for Mary-Kate, the 10 inch tall bears went down well with the parents.

Her daughters she gave preserves and cookies – all home-made, of course. Her son-in-law got much the same. For everyone else, she had sock animals, and had relied on Kat for an idea of what each might like. With a little jokey fun and a pinch of sarcasm, Kat had suggested as follows:-

Sam – A moose.

Gabriel – A mouse.

Dean – A squirrel.

Castiel – A bee.

Kevin – A Bespectacled worm with a book (bookworm).

Michael – A clown fish (being too serious).

Lucifer – A polar bear (he burns cold).

Balthazar – A skunk (as drunk as).

Samandriel – A koala (cute but dangerous).

Inias – A mink (see koala).

Nathaniel – A lamb (follows the flock).

Rebecca – A calf (as lamb).

Rachael – A hamster (docile unless riled).

Raphael – A snake (difficult to tell if it’s dangerous or not unless you know it).

Hael – A ladybird (nice to look at, but some nasty habits).

Hester – A mongoose (mostly harmless, but capable of killing a snake).

Ion – A vulture (watching the killings, looking for easy pickings).

Gadreel – A badger (bad reputation, but have their good sides).

Zachariah – A fox (vicious when cornered, but does nature a service).

Garth – A puppy (gangly limbs and adorable expression).

Charlie – A rabbit (always hiding self and whereabouts, cute and playful).

For her husband, Mick, she had a selection of favourite candies.

Linda snuck off to the kitchen during the giving of most of the rest of the gifts – she doubted she’d get anything else but from her hubby and daughters, and there was still plenty to be done. She was putting the turkey back in having basted it and put in the beef when Lucifer snuck up behind her and scared her half to death.

Being escorted back in by the former devil wasn’t something Linda had bargained for, nor was being pinned in between Hunters who resolutely refused to let her up unless someone knew where she was going and why – the kitchen was off limits unless she was accompanied. Muttering to herself about worrywarts and old women, she sat and stewed as the gift exchange carried on around her – a few more landing in her lap than she had expected.

Though she grumbled, she was touched that everyone was making so much effort to keep her child – the very idea still felt strange for her – her ‘baby’ was 17, not new born. Still, as there was one resident, she’d not do anything to force a miscarriage. She knew she’d not be able to live with herself if she did. She rest a hand gingerly on her abdomen, mentally talking to her child, startled when Michael spoke close to her ear, correcting her that it wasn’t just one. She took a deep breath, and smiled, accepting the idea.

Her grown children, now that her condition was known, kept looking at her strangely, as if unsure what to make of the news of the new life growing within her. Her husband was also a little taken aback, but looking forward to more children. Michael, the Archangel, stood alongside her, making sure that she did nothing untoward or overly exerting, Thomas G standing by to follow instructions for the meal preparations she now was banned from doing.

Kat was busy with the twins, obviously, so was Adam, even with help from the others there, so the fact that some of the Angels had stationed themselves in the kitchen to prevent Linda’s being tempted to do more than she should in her condition pleased and relieved them. Michael and Thomas G were two of the hardest workers that day – ‘Thomas’ re-earning the name ‘Gadreel’ according to the Apostle.

At dinner, with them all sat at the map table in the library – it being the only table big enough – a ‘traditional’ turkey, beef or nut cutlet meal – depending on taste and diet – with roast potatoes, Brussels sprouts, carrots, peas, chestnut dressing, sausage meat dressing, cranberry sauce, bread sauce, onion gravy and either figgy ‘Christmas’ pudding, or steamed toffee pudding – cheese and crackers was also available. Coffee and liqueurs were served afterward with Christmas Crackers to pull.

With it being the first time most of the Host had ‘done’ a Human Christmas, the tastes and scents were, by and large, new, as were the traditions. So when Balthazar found a penny in his piece of pudding, he didn’t know what to make of it. The ‘good luck’ tradition for the finder – if they didn’t choke on it – an alien concept to the winged wonders. The Hunters were assigned the dishes, and did them with cheerful grumbling (it didn’t take long – Gabriel saw to that). 

Once the twins were settled for a nap that evening, Kat and Linda – with Mick – did what they often did at that time of year – joined one another as they sang carols and festive songs, each keeping time and tune with one another from pure habit and familiarity. Others joined in with the ones they knew, leaving the Host both surprise and pleased by the praise and knowledge of the true story of Christmas and the meaning behind it all. Some of them joined in as they caught on too.

As Kat lead into ‘We Three Kings’, Adam and her family joining in with her, something happened that no-one had expected – not even the Host. A sound of hoof beats and footsteps, the calling of Camels and Horses, and the jingling of the harnesses of the drivers and riders of the caravan, then, like a holographic rerun, the image of the Camel train bearing Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar entered through the library and disappeared into the depths of the tunnel system, the sound of jingling harnesses echoing softly in their wake. They looked to one another and grinned nervously.

Breaking the silence, Linda started to quietly sing – solo at first – Silent Night, the hushed tone of her voice bringing to attention the meaning and power of the words it was crafted from, the meaning magnified as others joined in, their quiet voices raising to push the full meaning of the song to awareness. Linda was dewy eyed at the end of it, Mick and Michael converging on her to comfort her.

The Apostle, in an act of affection towards her in-laws, started on ‘We Wish You A Metal Christmas’, a CD of covers of favourite Christmas songs by Metal performers such as Alice Cooper, Lemmy Kilmister, Tony Iommi, Steve Lukather and Michael Schenker. Dean grinned at the change of pace from the relentlessly ballad-y to more his usual style of classic rock. Sam just rolled his eyes as Adam pulled it up on IPod – loudly (considering the twins were asleep). 

As the day drew to a close, a knock sounded at the door, hesitant, uncertain, as though the person outside didn’t know if they should be there, maybe why they were there – but Kat knew why, and ran to throw the door wide, welcoming the strange young lady with open arms. It was just as she’d foreseen in one of her visions.


	19. Chapter 19

The young lady in question, coming warily inside with Kat, had scruffy clothing, unkempt hair, and a serious expression, equal parts confusion and paranoia, with a dash of suspicion thrown in too. This was a stranger to all there, so why did the Apostle seem so pleased to see her? Who was she, and why was Adam’s wife so certain that Balthazar needed to meet her? All was about to become clear.

Kat hugged the new-comer, who pulled back into herself, then Kat said something that seemed to shock her – it certainly shocked the host. _”It’s alright, Ruth, you were right to come here, I know who and what you are. Your Father is here, and I’ll see you’re safe here. Welcome.”_ Ruth didn’t seem to know what to make of this, and looked ready to bolt at any given moment, so Linda stepped forward and asked if she was hungry or wanted a drink – offering tea, coffee, or alcohol. 

Ruth accepted a sandwich, and a coffee – stating she didn’t partake of spirits as she hunted them – which is when Dean had a sudden memory of a young girl and her mother that had hunted years before – he was nearly certain that the kid had been called Ruth, the mother being Cilla, or Stella, or something similar. He raised this with her and got a very unexpected reply. Her mum, Stella, was dead – picked off by a werewolf just under a year before. Linda gave her a hug in sympathy.

Sitting with her in the kitchen, while Linda – under close supervision from the host – wandered around, putting away and washing up, Kat talked to Ruth about growing up without a Dad, her Mum hunting and how, when she was 8, something happened to change their whole life, causing them to try to avoid hunters and be self-sufficient loners. During an argument with her Mum Stella, in her 8th year, Ruth had stubby, scruffy grey / brown wings appear out of her back, stopping the argument and causing confusion over who – or what – ‘Z’ was that had fathered her.

Michael, pausing in the act of ‘enticing’ Linda into a chair, stared at her, open mouthed, as the realisation that one of his brothers had sired the young woman – she was a Nephilim, an Abomination, and should be ki… Kat cut off his thoughts by reminding him that the same would happen to him – by her own hand – if he continued with that train of thought. He stopped abruptly.

But that begged a question – just how many Nephilim were there, and who were the parents? Kat summoned ALL the Host that would respond to her call, and commanded them go search for any and all Nephilim on Earth. When they returned, most within half an hour, they had several youngsters with them, all races, ages and both genders. Tracing the parents would be a challenge. Ruth soon found herself in a pile of small, wriggly bodies, and not over pleased about it.

Kat, sitting alongside the older girl on the couch in the living room, ‘read’ each youngster, by the simple means of placing a hand fondly on their forehead and calling out the name of an Angel or Archangel – this was the Nephilim’s parent. Some of the Host got one Hell of a shock when they, themselves were called out.

The reactions of the Host were as different as they were definite – Balthazar, on being informed that Ruth was his, dropped his glass of whiskey, while Gadreel, handed a two year old boy, was enchanted to have a being so small in his charge. Zachariah, being presented with a three year old daughter, was suddenly thrown against the wall when Dean, Sam and Adam realise that she’s Mary Winchester’s child too. Michael having to step in to prevent his being smited by the brothers.

Samandriel – rape having been one of his tortures at Crowley’s hands – was distraught at being presented with a son from the event, while Castiel was reeling from the discovery of a daughter from his ‘marriage’ as Emmanuel. While Michael had no knowledge of ever having been with a mortal in a way that would make the possibility of his son’s existence viable. Adam had the answer to that one though.

Adam, voice breaking with emotion and the stress of reliving the event, took Michael back through the time when, while HE was Michael’s vessel, Michael had been …..Subdued by a Wicca. Adam himself had been forcibly mated to produce a child of the Archangel – his power contained in Adam even as he was ‘dormant’. Kat stood by her husband and offered such comfort as she could, his anguish something palpable in the air, as was Michael’s shocked denial. Their son was just 4.

Dean, trying to cope with the knowledge that Cas was a dad, and that he’d a tiny sister through the actions of a certain dickbag of an Angel – bondee or no bondee – was attempting to cope with it all, Sam and Gabriel already getting to know the three year old whose parentage was so mixed up. Them not wanting to let Zachariah have much to do with her at the time, which pleased Zach just as well as he’d no idea what to do with her.

Cas was sitting numbly staring at the girl that had been introduced as his child, not certain what to make of the situation, nor what his mate would have to say on the subject of his being a dad. The little lady wandered over and set a hand on his knee, gazing up at him as he stared lovingly into her eyes before looking to his husband. Dean smiled and crouched with them, cuddling both in his arms, overwhelming love for both coming to the fore. 

The last child still clinging to Ruth would be far more difficult to place with a family member – Aziraphale had sired her, and he was now banished for all eternity to Hell, with his mate, Crowley. A decision on her fate had to be made. The two occupants of Hell were summoned to the cell in the basement, their input on what should happen to the girl needed in order to settle her future.

When the two arrived, and the situation explained to them, Crowley, not fond of the Angels, requested Moose take her in – Squirrel’s partner being the very Angel that betrayed him. Aziraphale agreed, as did Sam and Gabriel. The little girl, looked from the Hell resident couple, to the two of different heights, stuck her fingers in her mouth, plopped her butt on the floor, and her eyes welled up with water, Sam stepped forward and scooped her up into his arms. Aziraphale, going in for just one hug, kissed her forehead, and returned to his mate’s side, leaving his daughter with her adoptive dad.

There was just one more thing to be said to Crowley before the two were dismissed. Lucifer, voice raising with vexation, reminded him of when he’d had Samandriel tortured, and what one part of that torture had been – rape – then told the shaken King of Hell that a child had been born of the crime, and that Samandriel was now traumatised by the fact. Leaving Crowley to face Aziraphale’s wrath over his actions toward a favoured sibling, he dismissed them both.

 

Next morning, as it started to sink in just what the previous evening was going to entail, as referring to the sudden appearance of so many ‘Children of the Host’ – voluntarily parented or otherwise – and what it was going to do to the balance of ‘Team Free Earth’, and the Angels that had no idea of HOW to raise a child. That’s when, with 22 years of parenting behind them, Kat’s parents, Mick and Linda came into their own. 

Sitting in the library, on a couch with the Nephilim magnet, Ruth, Linda was in her element with so many children around her – she loved them and would have had more when hers were younger if she could have – while Mick, a veteran father, maybe, but unused to answering questions about such, was attempting to help the newly discovered parents get used to the idea, and gain some idea of what they may find coming at them in the future. It was an awkward, embarrassing conversation that none of them found particular enthusiasm for.

Showing a distinct lack of enthusiasm, Ruth, the younger Nephilim nestling into her as though she was their security blanket, sat on the couch and grouched to herself – just loud enough to be heard. Linda had Gadreel, his son in his lap, appear a selection of toys and DVDs for the mini half-Angels to play with, then, once the others had rejoined them, slipped off to the kitchen to make a healthy, suitable breakfast for all the little ones. Michael watched her, deep in thought.

He’d disappeared the night before for half an hour - reappearing covered in blood and body fluids – and announced that the ‘female – you couldn’t call her a woman – wouldn’t be troubling them anymore. No-one wanted to know what he meant further than the fact that he was referring to the Wiccan involved in the creation of his son. Adam, still pale and shaky from reliving the assault, sat there, cradling one of his adopted children, while watching ‘his’ son with mixed emotions.

It was just sinking in for his half-brothers what he’d said about the boy’s conception not being voluntary for either him or Michael, and they were grappling with the idea too, the child left, for the moment, on the side lines, uncared for except by archetypal mother and grandmother, Linda. She was resolutely looking after ALL of the new arrivals, no matter WHOSE they were. Lucifer was assisting, drawn to the innocence of the young beings – abominations or not.

The youngsters, all piling onto Ruth most of the time when they were tired or scared, seemed almost to be unsure of what to make of suddenly having so many adults around them, and so much attention paid to them – it was making them uneasy. With a grin on her face, Linda commandeered some of the less directly involved of the Host – and Kevin – and had them assist her and the youngsters bake pies, cookies and cupcakes for the occupants of the Bunker to share, an activity that seemed to help relax and calm a good few of the Nephilim, no matter what their age or gender.

Tommy, Michael and Adam’s little one, was a bit clingy – to Ruth or Linda didn’t seem to matter to him, he just wanted female attention that was kind, cuddly. Evidently his mother had been as mean to him as she had to his fathers. Linda made a decision, and told it to Mick, giving him small option but to agree. For once, she was putting her foot down over something important. Leaving the youngsters with Ruth, Lucifer and Kevin for a short while, she asked Kat, Adam and Michael to meet with her in the kitchen – she had an offer to make.

Sitting everyone down with coffee and cookies that the kids had made, Linda spoke in a calm, gentle voice, offering to house and rear Tommy if Adam, and Michael, found it painful to have the child around – she couldn’t stand the thought of him being homeless. To her daughter she explained that, with her and her sisters all moved out, there was plenty of space in the house and she’d little to do save wait for her babies to be born. Kat, looking lovingly at her spouse, left it to him to choose, happy to go along with what he wanted. Adam wanted a few days to consider it, everyone agreed, and Linda promised to watch out for Tommy while the decision was made.

 

Someone else was worrying Linda too, with surprise parenthood thrust upon him. Young Samandriel, raped during torture, the babe being born from that act, was barely coping with the guilt of what had happened now that it was in the ‘public domain’ so as to say, never mind be able to parent the boy. Linda silently vowed to oversee the father, as well as the son if needed. She’d a feeling he’d need help, if not someone to raise the boy for him, and she could, and would, if the Angel felt it to be best. She decided to speak to Lucifer – the oldest Angel that wasn’t a new parent himself, see what he thought, and if he felt Samandriel would be able to talk to her about the boy. Lucifer both agreed, and appreciated the offer.

The talk to Samandriel, while vital in some respects, was an experience fraught with tension and stress. Obviously, it was a sensitive subject, and the younger Angel was hesitant to speak of it in front of a Human, but, once the offer was explained – that it was only meant to offer aid, and only if he wanted to accept it – he was calmer and readily acceded to the idea of Linda’s rearing the child mainly, with input from him as and when he felt he could face it. He wanted his son within reach, but not an immediate responsibility, just in case he couldn’t cope with fatherhood, in the circumstances, very well. 

Michael, appraised of the idea, agreed so long as Linda, and Mick, accepted assistance during Linda’s pregnancy, with their concurrence of his condition, the deal was made, and Samandriel was left with the knowledge that he wasn’t alone with the Nephilim he’d had no say in siring. He was a little more at peace over his ordeal, reconciling to being a parent and to the prospect of aiding in rearing the child from an emotionally stable home. 

The days between Christmas and New Year – only a week, maybe, but what a week – flowed by with the ease of a semi-set concrete floor supporting a steam traction engine – in other words, with some problems – The Host, unused for millennia, to fledglings being around, and these being half human, were having more of a problem adjusting to the presence of the youngsters than some of the Humans were, while other Humans were struggling with abrupt parenthood, or step / adoptive parenthood, as the case maybe.

Again, the ones more removed from the situation were assisting the ones still struggling to come to terms. A routine that involved them all was set out in order to help. A bedtime was established for the youngsters, according to age, and morning routine started to give everyone the chance to begin the day in the best possible circumstances. New Year’s Day, and the late night that it called for, not scheduled to include the young Nephilim, half Angel or not, they still needed their rest.

By this time, the Humans and Angels were getting more accustomed to the presence of the little ones, and had begun to build relationships that were more than just perfunctory – deeper, warmer, closer. Laughter and shrieks of fun echoed through the halls and chambers of the Bunker as each child was encouraged to explore and play, in the company of their parent and other carers. Each made a special place for themselves in the hearts of all the adults there. An air of contentment beginning to take hold as a new level of relaxation set into the beings present.

By the time they all went to their various homes, in the countries and realms they resided in, firm friendships had been forged between the young and old alike. Linda accepted Angelic aid in settling back in at home with the newest resident to the house. The issue of adoption or fostering would need to be raised once the subject was a little less fresh to scraped emotions. For now, Brad would be living as a guest, well-loved and joyfully accepted.


End file.
